Energy ripped through Atlas’s body, lifting him off the ground and into the air. He struggled against the System, but he quickly found himself paralyzed. A pins-and-needles feeling started in his feet and rose through the rest of his body. His skin began to itch and ache, but he couldn’t move a muscle. His whole body had locked up, and he could only grit his teeth as the pain escalated to sheer agony. Atlas’s skin and the muscles below began to tear and compress, and even his skeleton ground itself to dust only to reform, far stronger than before. At the same time, a noxious black substance oozing with miasma bubbled up from his body exiting through his bloody pores.
Soon, tears of blood ran down the sides of his face, and even more blood welled up in his nose and throat. He wanted to cough it up, or even to scream, but his body refused to listen to his commands as the pain grew. The blood began to clog his airways, and he couldn’t take a single breath without blood forcing its way down his lungs. The edges of his vision turned dark, and Atlas wondered once again why he hadn’t just agreed to go to court instead of putting up with all the bullshit he’d faced that day.
Would’ve beat dying, he thought sluggishly.
Just as Atlas had given up, accepting that he had finally reached his limit, a notification flashed across his eyes, but he ignored it and dropped to the ground, all his pain gone, though the memory was enough to make him want to cry. Instead, he began to cough, hacking up all the blood, adding it to the rest of the blood, viscera, and foul-smelling gunk his body had shed through whatever process he’d just experienced.
Though he wanted nothing more than to pass out and recover from what he’d just experienced, Atlas couldn’t stand the smell the concoction of his body’s excretions was letting off, so he pushed himself to his feet. His eyes widened as he moved more fluidly than ever before. As he moved closer to Big A and the two Tainted, he could feel the new strength in his muscles, and he could see the muscles clearly in his arms and legs. His mouth tilted in a small frown when he realized that not all of the body fat around his belly had disappeared.
“Oh, well. Can’t win ‘em all, I guess,” he muttered as he drew closer to Big A’s group.
“Feeling better?” Big A asked.
“Yeah. Surprisingly. I thought I was going to be down for a while when I woke up. Now I feel better than I ever have. Could do without the smell of this… gunk, though,” Atlas said, gagging after getting a whiff of himself and connecting it to the oily residue of whatever ooze his body had just excreted.
“Here,” Big A said, tossing him a small vial filled with a sparkling liquid. “That stuff was created to clean any filth off the body, and it works especially well against impurities from integration and ranking up.”
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“Thanks.” Atlas uncorked the tiny bottle and poured it over his head. In less than a second, the dirt, blood, and oily, miasmic residue evaporated into white smoke, and its foul stench was replaced by the pleasant scent of vanilla. Atlas smiled at how clean he felt. “That’s way better.”
“As unpleasant as it is, the integration process is a right of passage for every newly integrated member of the multiverse. It’s one of the joys of being part of the vanguard. As is the feeling of getting your integration rewards.” With near picture-perfect timing, a System screen appeared in Atlas’s vision. It took Atlas a second to understand what it was, but when he had read it over, he smiled. Big A saw the look on his face and said, “I presume you received said reward.”
“I’ll say,” Atlas said, showing him the notification.
INTEGRATION COMPLETED: SYSTEM USER’S STATUS IS NOW ENABLED AND MAY BE ACCESSED TO RECEIVE FINAL REWARDS
“Very good,” Big A said with a nod before giving Atlas a serious look. “Atlas, it is very important that you do not show anyone the full extent of your status. Only show parts, and even then only when absolutely necessary or to people you trust. Otherwise, people will use that knowledge against you.” Verian and Amaryllis both nodded at his words.
Atlas could tell that Big A was only looking out for him, so he nodded. “Okay. I understand. I don’t know why anyone would come after me, though.”
Verian looked at him incredulously. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Kid, you passing a Champion-level integration quest would be impressive enough to be a threat to some of the more fragile ego-bearing factions out there. The fact that you properly closed a Tainted escape portal and cured two Tainted lieutenants while still not a full F-Rank is a sign of crazy talent. Any factions that learn about you will want you or want you dead.”
“C’mon,” Atlas scoffed. “Surely, you two are blowing this all out of proportion.” When neither one responded, his light-hearted smile fell away. “Oh, you gotta be kidding me.” He ran a stressed hand through his hair.
“I’m afraid not, Atlas. Some of the factions of the multiverse do not take kindly to being shown up. Fortunately, the only ones remaining who know of the level of your Integration Scenario are the four of us, and I very much doubt that anyone here is in a rush to share. Isn’t that right?” With those words, he sent sharp looks at both women, who hurriedly nodded.
“Okay,” Atlas said with a sigh as he took a second to steady his nerves. If that’s the case, how do I open my status?”
“All you need to do is think of how you want your stats displayed and focus,” Big A answered. “In time, it will become second nature and automatic, but the first must be done intentionally.”
Atlas nodded as he closed his eyes and thought about what he wanted, not that he needed to. He’d been a gamer for years and knew exactly what he wanted, with a few personalizations. After he had worked those out, he locked the image in his mind, concentrated, and thought, Status.