The Crafting of Fadhilla - a LitRPG Story

Name: Fadhilla Moshi

Time Remaining: 6 minutes

A graduate of World Altruism’s Vision program, Fadhilla Moshi, sat in a computer center in Tanzania’s central city of Dar Es Salaam and had only 6 minutes left to live, but she found time for her father.

His sad voice came over the line, “I hope they let you return home, someday.”

“Probably not anytime soon, Papa. We Chagga are too good at this, and after all, you are the one that sent me here, weren’t you?”

“Our family is proud of you.”

A telltale vibration in her headgear let her know the explosive charges shifted out of their safety position and closer to her skull. 

“This is not the time for sentimentality,” she said, then switched off the connection.

 World Altruism discovered the people of East Africa have the highest level of Vision. Benefits were paid to families who enlisted their children in apprenticeships that began from age 10, to learn how to use this skill. When they turned age 20 the students signed a pledge that the total well-being of the world is more important than their own, and began their twenty-year period of service.

Vision can only be projected when someone is at risk of imminent death. 

Time remaining: 5 minutes. 

Vision: 15 pts

A single task appeared on her screen.

“Prevent FX-243 Airliner Crash, Life +125 minutes” 

Fadhilla clicked to accept.

She looked at her battalion's leader. “I don’t care if the plane crashes or not, I only care about getting my 125 minutes.” 

“Have it your way,” he said, “visuals on.”

She stepped into an isolation pod. The VR sensory equipment that surrounded her cost a hundred years of her father’s salary, probably more. In the Fourth Cryptocurrency Bubble, the founding team of World Altruism acquired 97% of the world’s savings. They had money to buy anything.

But they couldn’t buy Vision. The human ability to influence all the quantum probabilities that exist, just a little bit one way or the other. In earlier days, some called it the power of prayer, positive visualization, or sometimes when it really worked, they might have called it schizophrenia.

A rapid stream of images fed her a prediction five minutes into the future of an Airbus 350 with 700 passengers lumbering toward the end of the runway. Wake turbulence from the airplane in front would cause the A350’s wing to tip to one side. The pilot took a recreational drug not scanned for by testing, which will slow down his reaction time. She started to craft a plan to change his fate.

The same way the weather is predicted, the world’s largest AI server farm can predict all the world’s events five minutes into the future. But it takes those with Vision to change those predictions.

Fadhilla held the image of the pilot in her mind. She started to feel his pain and loneliness. Concentrating on that emotion, she projected happier thoughts toward him. 

Vision: 10 pts

Nothing. With only minutes left, she needed to make something work. She decided to use her last 10 pts of Vision. She scanned his biography in the database. She let the pilot’s picture of his daughter fill her mind.

Vision: 0 pts

In was getting close. Her earlier cockiness felt foolish now. Her hands started to shake at the thought of her own death even though she was trained to be emotionless. 

Fadhilla’s projections pushed a single neuron in the pilot's brain that was dormant, just over the edge into being activated. This activated two more neurons, and then ten more, and snowballed into tens of thousands.

The pilot twitched and took his hands off the controls. “I think I have a fever.”

Fadhilla kept pushing thoughts. A look of sentimentality crossed his face. He was obviously thinking about his daughter, as she was.

“There will be a 45-minute delay in takeoff,” the pilot announced.

“Yes!” Fadhilla shouted out.

In her headset, she heard the AI’s voice.

> “World Altruism has rewarded you with 125 minutes of life.”

Fadhilla felt her helmet wobble as the explosive charge was moved away from her brain back to the safety position.

“Good work, team member Fadhilla,” the battalion leader tipped his head as if her work is nothing to be impressed about.

She decided to take a nap for an hour to recharge. When she slept, her vision was restored by REM sleep.

Time Remaining: 70 minutes

Vision: 150 pts

The rest of the day was more of the same. Short naps followed by easy jobs. She chose sure things from the bidding pool.

Help a lost cat return home. +15 minutes. 

Help a drunk driver run off the side instead of into oncoming traffic. +90 minutes. 

Prevent employees from putting their foot into their mouths in meetings. +10 minutes +3 minute + 5 minutes

Help a husband fall off a ladder and breaks his leg to learn to appreciate his wife more. +20 minutes

Fadhilla thought even when a group is only two people, one person’s happiness needs to suffer to maximize overall happiness. 

The tasks went on like this all day. People in the outside world used to have a fantasy they could reduce the risks of life by doing thing like buying insurance, driving larger cars, flying prestige airlines, and looking both ways. But in the end, our fate is controlled by the tiniest bits of chance and fate… a nudge of a steering wheel, a single mutation in a DNA strand. 

World Altruism’s project has changed everything.

Fadhilla slumped back in her chair, She’s earned 6 hours of non-interrupted sleep.

Time Remaining: 20 minutes

Vision: 750 pts

She jumped out of bed the second the alarm clock rang. Instinct. Her Vision stat was reassuringly high. It was a relief to see her sleep was deep enough for a large boost.

On the task list, she saw the choices:

1. Help man choose the right oncologist: +15 minutes [solo]

2. Help a couple find true love at midnight: +250 minutes [2-person team]

She liked to work alone, but 250 minutes was far too much to pass up. She had 20 minutes so she could always exit after 10 minutes, and go back to the oncologist job. Not too much to lose if a couple doesn’t find true love anyway.

She tapped #2.

A second later, her teammate appeared. 

“Ah, Peter,” she groaned. Lately, Peter had become cruel, a trait she assumed stemmed from his high stats and the rumor he once averted an earthquake, something no one else has ever accomplished since. His stats appeared:

Peter Mkenda

Time Remaining: +34,383 minutes

Vision: 23,100pts

“Howdy teammate,” Peter said as he walked over, bumped the back of her chair, and then buckled himself in next to her.

The AI presented Fadhilla the seeking true love’s couple’s background, from Alice’s perspective. 

Alice and Dimitris had been students at NYU. One night in a sudden downpour, they both fled for shelter into The Strand bookstore. The only physical bookstore remaining in the city. Where else could one easily kill a half an hour without spending money in Lower Manhattan?

Alice saw Dmitris holding a copy of A Wizard of Earthsea and pretending to be interested in it. He was in her way. She said, “That’s a book everyone talks about but no one actually reads,” she moved her finger over to a volume on the next shelf, “now, THAT’S a good book.” 

He moved out of her way, and looked at the book she had randomly selected.

“Thanks! I’ll text you my thoughts after I read it,” he said and looked toward her, smiling.

“Oh ok, here’s my WhatsApp account,” and showed him her QR code, in order to get rid of him quickly. It was easier than making excuses.

Brad bought the novel she recommended. He texted her after he read each chapter. They’ve been reading buddies for five years since then, but one could say they were never exactly on the same page.

Fadhilla kept studying Alice while Peter was filling himself in on Dimitris point of view.

“Teammate,” Peter looked her way. “Dimitris' father has offered him a job in the family company in Greece and given him an ultimatum. He needs to tell his family whether he will return or not, tonight!”

“So, by midnight?” Fadhilla asked.

“He needs to tell Alice what he thinks,” Peter carried on, without really answering her question. 

She proposed her first thought, “I think their love of books has kept them together.”

“No. I think their love of books has stood between them.”

“We shall see. We need to get them both to The Strand at midnight.”

“But the store closes at 9pm,” she said.

Peter closed his eyes.  

Vision: 23,095pts

He opened them and said, “A special event has been announced tonight. ‘Midnight madness.’”

They started their work. Through twists and turns, cancelled appointments, lost items, and late trains, Fadhilla influenced her character, and got Alice to the bookstore.

“My character is there,” she announced.

“Right there,” Peter replied. In a few seconds, she saw Dimitris walk around the corner in the bookstore and approach Alice.

“Damn, she’s hesitating again,” Peter was twitching.

“What do you mean?”

“Her favorite book is A Wizard of Earthsea,” he said, “if she told him to read that one, instead of having to maintain the lie about the other book for five years, they would have been together by now.”

Her intuition said reading that book was no longer the step needed. 

Fadhilla closed her eyes and visualized her new idea.

Vision -10

Another man came up to Alice. “I’ve noticed you here before, I always wanted to talk to you.” 

Dimitris clenched his hands as if he was about to choke him. He tapped the man on the shoulder and said, “WE were talking.” 

The man looked at Dimitris face and backed away and said to Alice, “Sorry, next time.” 

> “You have 10 seconds.” 

A shiver went down Fadhilla’s spine. She watched Alice and Dimitris intently.

“Alice, I don’t want to lose you.”

“Then, stay.”

The screens went dark. When the course of fate was reset, they no longer needed to watch.

> “World Altuism rewards you with 300 minutes of life.”

Fadhilla felt jittery after a close call. The death timer has never called out a ten second warning before.

She looked at Peter, he should be happy, but he avoided her gaze.

She thought about how Alice and Dimitris had met. How Peter was waiting to join this job the second she clicked in.

“They met…in a rainstorm?” Fadhilla asked Peter, glaring. "Like what happened in your favorite film."

“Yep, a rainstorm,” he said flatly.

Fadhilla searched the database. Information on old jobs, and what went right or wrong was stored indefinitely.

“So you already did a job on that couple and didn't tell me? I almost got killed, because 5 years ago, you dumped them halfway for a job with more points?” she said, “and Alice and Dimitris were out there unhappy for five fucking years?”

“You’re the one who said it's only about points. So something I should have made her say way back then,” Peter said, “would have changed their lives completely. Big whoop.”

“So much for our benevolent star performer,” she said with a heavy tone of irony. 

Fadhilla could not stop thinking about Peter’s mistake. The years Alice and Dimitris had wasted. Herself almost being killed. It seemed so unfair. She closed her eyes and started picturing what Peter is thinking. His fingers on the control panel. She concentrated harder and harder.

“You’re not?” Peter blurted out, “We are not allowed to do this to each other.”

“Try to stop me,” she said, concentrating harder. 

Peter pulled at his arms restraints, but they were still locked in place.

“No!” he screamed, as he looked at the display.

Peter Mkenda

Time Remaining: 3 minutes

“What have you done, Fadhilla?!”

She laughed looking at his new stats. Staring at his terrified face, soon Fadhilla felt remorse. This sometimes happened when emotion drove her to do something rash. 

Peter Mkenda

Time Remaining: 2 minutes

The rage on Peter’s face started to soften and turned to something else.

“We both need to get out of here,” his stared deeply into her eyes, “but now, let’s find a way to earn another 15 minutes.”