I try not to give the infamous ‘deer in the headlights’ stare as I’m guided up to the main lecture hall in the building. I was expecting a quiet conversation or maybe a couple of interested faculty members. But apparently I’m such a celebrity that thirty-eight faculty members showed up on barely an hour’s notice to come hear me speak.

Worse still, I didn’t plan for anything of the sort! Fighting wyverns and slimes and demons is one thing. That’s easy, I can plan and prepare for that, and all I have to do is use my Skills and powers to the fullest extent. But the idea of public speaking in front of so many accomplished academics is… considerably more nerve-wrenching than I’d planned for. But I have no choice. I dug my grave already, and now I can only languish or fly.

Well, I could fly away. Fly far, far away and… no, this would trash my professional reputation. A reputation that I do, in fact need, if I want to continue with the full extent of my plans, and one day try to strike down the System itself. I mentally curse my misfortune as I approach the lectern in the front of the room.

Chloe takes a seat in the front of the chamber, flashing me a smile and a cute wave as I step onto the lecture stage. The faculty members, and even a few people in more casual dress, perhaps students or just community members who wanted to listen in on the big impromptu speech I’m going to try to give today. I better get a damn level up for this, because this definitely counts as ‘pushing my will to its limit and coming out stronger on the other side’.

“Hello,” I say. I wait a few more seconds, letting everyone know that I’m as ready as I’m ever going to be to get started. And sure enough, I can hear the rush of footsteps just outside the hall as the last few faculty members present rush into this miniature auditorium. After a long, painful minute of standing and being stared at, I continue.

“So, uh, hi,” I stammer. “I’m Seraphina Mortensen, and I have the distinct feeling that some of you here today have heard of me.”

This gets a few amused chuckles, thankfully. I’m glad my attempt to break the ice didn’t go over too horrendously.

“I want to start by thanking Dr. O’Neal for extending the invitation and gathering all of you here on such short notice. In truth, I didn’t know this was going to happen, and certainly not on such short notice. My partner Chloe and I just got back in town the day before yesterday, and most of yesterday was spent dealing with a literal dragon and the equally literal fallout of a dragon… falling out of the sky. Hopefully wearing armor adorned in its scales will discourage any future wyverns from following suit.”

This gets quite a few more laughs, causing my tension to ease just a bit more.

“So, I’m not sure exactly what I’m supposed to be talking about here. I imagine most of you are here because you want to hear me talk about Ethertech, but I’m not sure if you are asking about glyphs, about spellcrafting, about robotics, linguistics, or whatever else. I will preface that I’m not an expert in any of these fields. Not even about glyphs and spellcrafting, although I am probably more an expert in those than in any others.”

A hand goes up. “Seraphina,” a man in the back in the room answers. “Thank you for meeting with us today. I want to start by asking about your arm. I’ve gone over the schematics that are publicly available on Dr. Martinek’s website, but there are a few questions that I can’t figure out that I’m hoping you’ll be able to clear up.”

And so the lecture begins as I explain all of the different components of my [Mechanical Arm Cannon], from the general philosophies of Ethertech design to the specific choices of glyphs used. We discuss circuitry, linking runes, my current plans for switches and logic gates, as well as some of the ideas that I’ve tried and been unsuccessful with.

There’s a lot of discussion about the [Gravity] glyph, and exactly what it does. As I come to understand from the discussion, humanity’s current understanding of gravity is lacking compared with the other three fundamental forces, namely the electromagnetic and the strong and weak nuclear forces. There is a lot of hope among the professors here that, if this glyph truly represents [Gravity] in its true form, it would be the holy grail of research on quantum gravity and a true theory of everything. Well, everything that was, now that there are entirely new forces at play, not to mention trying to dissect what [Ether] even is.

One thing I don’t feel comfortable mentioning in front of everyone is my extradimensional origins. Telling Chloe is fine; she’s my partner, best friend, and most trusted confidante. Telling Lindsey might not have been the wisest thing in the world, but I felt it was best to have her know, both to foster future trust and as a demonstration of the camaraderie we had built in our time traveling together. But these people I barely know? That’s more than a bit too far for me.

This, in turn, means that I’m unable to present the full knowledge I have about Ether, its origin, or the System’s purpose as a herald of destruction. I’m not sure if anyone would believe me, or if it would suit anyone’s ends to have that information widespread. Seems like it would do little productive at this time, and likely foment no shortage of additional panics, right when the people need assurances that the System and its trials have meaning.

Another question piques my interest. “Seraphina,” a female professor begins. “As I understand, you’ve largely withdrawn from the field after finishing your treatises on Ethertech. Might I ask why you’ve chosen here and now to make a public appearance?”

It’s a bit odd, being seen as a colleague by the gathered faculty and addressed on a first-name basis, while I’m in a mindset of referring to each of them as ‘Dr. whomever’ by habit. Nevertheless, it’s a question I’ve been thinking about for a good while, and verbalizing my thoughts publicly should help reinforce them and shed the lingering doubts in the back of my mind.

“In truth, I’ve been scared of the potential of Ethertech.” I raise my right hand and conjure a small red flame in the palm of my hand. Then I quickly feed the flame more of my [Ether], causing the fire to grow in size and change color from a dim red to a bright orange. “Ethertech is coded in the language of magic, and magic has destructive potential the likes of which are as great as mankind’s most destructive inventions. Perhaps even more so.” I’m not about to state outright that Ethertech can literally blow up the planet in sufficient quantities, nor am I going to directly make comparisons to the destructive capabilities of nuclear weapons and posit that, within a few years, the nukes will be found wanting.

Hell, even the destructive potential of a single person can’t be understated. Killing every person in this room would be a trivial task. I wouldn’t, especially because one of the people in this room is the woman I love more than life itself. But the fact that it’s possible is harrowing.

Even without killing, though, there are no shortages of ways I could absolutely devastate the people in this room. A sufficiently powerful [Wind Sorcerer] could suck all the air out of the room and asphyxiate us all. I bet Yulia could do it with just a thought. Hells, if she told me she actually did exactly that in her past life, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest.

“But things have changed.” I turn to the board and start sketching the Ether absorption and modulation relay I discovered on my armor this morning. “The proliferation of Ethertech has already begun, weapons appearing in the black market, made by anonymous [Enchanters]. They could be anyone, operating anywhere. Maybe even one of you in this room.

“And even if I were able to go to every [Arms Dealer] and [Merchant of the Black Markets] and excise that knowledge out of their brains, it would only be a matter of time before some new [Mechanist] or [Enchantress] would independently discover the principles I’ve written about. Which is why…”

I continue drawing the array on the board, adding in the newly-discovered [Equilibrium] glyph in the center and beginning to add in the linking runes. “I’m forced to change my philosophy on Ethertech proliferation. Knowing that it is inevitable, and the materials— these glyphs— cannot be sequestered and controlled the way radioactive fuel can, means that anti-proliferation is not a viable means of preventing a third world war fought with Ethertech. The only thing we can do is spread it wildly at this point, and hope to rely on the doctrine of mutually assured destruction to prevent calamity.” I don’t trust it, but it’s better than the status quo of Ethertech for the powerful and nothing for the rest.

I pause for a bit, creating a [Heat] and an inverted [Heat] glyph, one on either side of the absorption array. By now, the entire hall has gone deathly quiet as I continue my speech.

“More specifically, however, we need to democratize Ethertech. Spread it to the masses. Thanks to the arrival of the System, the most fundamental principle of western political thought, of democracy, that all men and women are created equal, is called into question. Some people, myself included, have… advantages.” I choose to remain deliberately vague here about the nature of my rebirth, or my [Seraphina Overlimit] trait. “Unfair ones. Ones that throw into question the idea that hard work and merit can make one successful.”

It’s not like there weren’t people with advantages before. People who came from money. People who had a teacher or a mentor take an interest in them from a young age. People who had parents who gave a damn. My advantages in the old world were few, but that’s one big one I had over a lot of kids in our neighborhood.

“And Ethertech in its original incarnation only exacerbated that divide. What good is having powerful weapons and armor if only the most powerful people, the ones with those advantages, can use it? It would invite tyranny of the worst degree.” I pause for a moment, starting to craft all the linking runes and etching in the sluices on the whiteboard to a silent audience, many of whom have their phones out and recording. “I… maybe others as well… might try to use our power for good, in a just manner that benefits humanity more broadly. But some won’t. And corruption is an inevitability, as per my understanding of human history since the dawn of civilization.”

I’m not immune to it. I’ve stated time and time again that I’ll damn the world if I have to, if it means keeping Chloe safe. What is that mindset but corruption by another name?

“Moreover, attacks like yesterday’s are only becoming more widespread. Some might choose not to take the path of a warrior, relying on the military, or people like me who did to protect them from literal dragons and dinosaurs and whatever else the System might send at us. Which is just fine— we need people to teach and manage our supply lines and our infrastructure. We need people to keep food stocked on the shelves and take care of our kids and all the thousands of things we need to keep civilization going.”

I finish the array. It begins powering the two glyphs autonomously. The one stage left absorbs heat out of the air, while the one stage right emits the same amount of heat right back. A decent breeze begins to form by way of the resulting air pressure differential, causing some papers and hair to ruffle.

“But I can’t be everywhere. The military can’t be everywhere. And when someone holds an Ethertech gun to your head, you can’t be sure there’ll be some sort of bystander capable of stepping in. But now, perhaps we can start to level the playing field, to once again try for those lofty ideals, that all people are created equal. At the very least, this is a step in that direction.”

There’s a lot of work ahead. And I don’t know that I’m doing the right thing here. I have no shortage of doubts that I can’t excise. All I can do now is hope that humanity isn’t as shortsighted and self-destructive as it has proven itself capable of over the millennia.

“Any questions?”

Of course there are. Lots of them. I won’t be leaving until dinnertime, at the very earliest.