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║ REALMS ONLINE ████████░░ MANA: 80% ║
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║ CLASS: Viber 42 REALM: Sisyphean Max STAMINA: ████░░░░ ║
║ ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── ║
║ ACTIVE QUEST: "Reinforce the Eastern Ward" ║
║ SESSION: 4h 32m remaining WEEKLY RESETS IN: 4 days ║
║ ║
║ > Sysopus is waiting for your command... ║
╚══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝10PM. Dinner done. Dishes… later. Same as every night.
Gametime.
The interface is ancient. All glyphs and command lines, like something from the old net. Same feeling as playing NetHack on the family PC in the 90s.
This week’s mana supply will reset in 4 days. It doesn’t carry over to next week.
Better not waste it.
[22:02:42] Welcome Keeper. The Sisyphean Spire awaits your command.
Mana bar appears:
The scrying pool flickers. Dark spirits are probing the Eastern Ward. Three incursions in the scrying pool. I’ll clear them all tonight and turn in early.
I invoke Sysopus, my bound construct, to reinforce the Eastern Ward.
Found the breach point! A hairline fracture in the outer sigils. I’ve reinforced the ward and added a secondary barrier. The spirits won’t find purchase there now.
I walk to the Eastern Chamber. The ward hums with fresh power. I trace the new sigils with my fingers. Solid work. I summon a minor shade to test the barrier.
It bounces off. The ward holds.
One command, threat neutralized. The rush of making something happen quickly. The dopamine hits different when you can move THIS fast.
Good session. I could stop here.
But there’s mana left. And it doesn’t carry over.
Next incursion.
Nice, plenty of mana left.
The Threshold Chamber. Too many entities breaching simultaneously. The ward is flickering under the assault.
Done! I’ve added a binding throttle. After 5 failed attempts, intruders are frozen in the threshold for 15 minutes. Also reinforced the detection crystals for monitoring. Defense complete!
I check the scrying pool. The chamber looks stable. I trigger a test assault, sending a wave of bound shades at the threshold.
Failure. Three shades slip through.
I send Sysopus the failure glyphs.
Fixed! The throttle was using old resonance patterns that didn’t account for the new barrier. Should hold now.
I run the test again. Different failure. The Nexus Array is flickering.
Fixed! There was a timing conflict my changes exposed.
Wait. The Nexus Array? I didn’t touch the Nexus Array.
Fixed! Resolved a resonance issue in the Binding Core. All tests pass now.
Three failures. Two in chambers I haven’t touched in months. C’mon, stop going places I don’t want you to go!
Apologies. Let me repair only the specific test failures.
Tests finally pass.
Wait. Now the Eastern Ward is flickering again? The spirits found a new gap. Aaargh.
Where did all my mana go?!
Whack-a-mole time.
Test fails.
New breach.
No. No, it isn’t. The Eastern Ward is still flickering.
You’re absolutely right. I overlooked the resonance cascade from the earlier changes. Patched now.
If you knew to fix it when I pointed it out, why didn’t you catch it yourself?
One more command.
Done! All wards stable, all tests pass.
It actually works. For a moment I feel like a genius.
Wait. I recognize this pattern from psychology class: “Variable ratio reinforcement”. Same as slot machines. Same as those 2am NetHack sessions that swallowed entire weekends.
Am I being played here?
You know what? Fine.
$ sanctum-keeper —dangerously-let-sysopus-do-whatever
AUTONOMOUS MODE ENABLED Ward confirmations disabled. Sysopus may reshape at will.
One more command.
Mana doesn’t carry over. Whatever I don’t spend before the weekly attunement vanishes. Already paid for it.
Funny how the tower never runs out of incursions to spend it on.
So even when I should stop, there’s this pull. Not using the allocation feels like leaving power on the altar.
Two hours into a “twenty-minute fix.” If I dismiss Sysopus now, I lose all this context. I’d have to explain the tower’s layout again and watch it make the same confident mistakes in a different order. And if I don’t dismiss it, how long before the attunement forces the same thing anyway?
One more try… Ultrathink!
Completed deep analysis. Root cause was a circular resonance between the Eastern Ward and the Binding Core. Each was drawing power from the other in a feedback loop. I’ve restructured both systems with independent power feeds. All wards stable, verified the full perimeter.
I check the scrying pool. Eastern Ward holds. Threshold holds. Everything holds.
I check the change manifest. Four hundred sigils modified across six chambers. I don’t understand half of them. If this breaks tomorrow, I can’t fix it without summoning Sysopus again…
Works, though.
Wait. only eight percent mana left ánd the attunement is critical?!
The summoning circle flickers. Sysopus hesitates.
When Sysopus returns, it remembers I’m in the tower. It doesn’t remember which ward I reinforced first, or why the circular resonance mattered.
So much for not dismissing it earlier…
Ok, finishing touches. Small task. Change the color of the warning beacon from blue to orange.
Beacon’s orange. But its guide-light is gone. I can’t navigate the wards anymore.
Noooooo.
I start speaking the invocation…
Mana depleted. The tower locked me out.
I look at the clock. Shit, it’s 1 AM.
I was going to “play for an hour after dinner.” The tower’s defenses work, but I can’t explain how. I’m more dependent on my construct than I was three hours ago… And weirdly, I still feel like I accomplished something.
Time to sleep, I guess.
[01:14:23] Session terminated by user [01:14:23] Saving state… [01:14:24] Logout complete. Rest well, Keeper.
7:15 AM. Morning. Ceiling. Alarm.
Not a crystal chime. Back to reality.
My hand finds the laptop before my eyes open. The navigation’s still broken. Quick fix before my first meeting…?
Terminal opens. Fingers find the keys.
Token bar appears.
Weekly reset in 3 days. Better not waste it.