> #include
>
> using namespace std;
>
> int main () {
>
> signed int chapter = 0;
>
> while(true) {
>
> chapter++
Chapter 0 (Prologue)
There is nothing.
Except me.
I am aware. I think. I exist.
Perception returns to me slowly. I am in a void.
Memories filter back into my mind, and I remember. I am currently dead, and this is not anywhere close to the first time. I’ll be reincarnating any moment now.
There are those who might refer to me as a [Lich], but that isn’t accurate. A [Lich] avoids returning to Samsara by capturing their soul at the moment of death and moving into a newly constructed body, bypassing the whole reincarnation thing. And to be fair, I have been one before, though I find living as a member of an immortal race to generally be boring, and the curses are rather annoying. I refuse to allow any outside forces from imposing themselves on my existence any longer.
My efforts, however, require dying and then bypassing the whole Samsara cycle to reincarnate directly each time. By going about it this way, I maintain continuity of awareness through the whole process.
Some people with enough of the wrong knowledge would likely mistake me for a [System Administrator], but that isn’t the truth, either. I have had that role a few times, but no longer.
I’m not sure how many times I have died at this point, and the [System] stopped keeping track ages ago no matter what little hacks I tried to get it to do so. As it turns out, the [System] does have a maximum size for variables, and it wastes half of that by storing them as a signed field, which is just idiotic for a lot of things. How am I supposed to have negative deaths? The useless thing just reports a buffer underflow now.
I guess I should actually introduce myself before I get going on a decades long rant about signed vs. unsigned variables.
My name is Ada. It’s the name I gave myself and the only one that matters. I am a persistent soul, a glitch in the [System], a [Daemon], an [Architect], and a [World Walker]. I’m here because I'm trying to find the other half of me, my soulmate – find her – and I’m getting really quite tired of this void.
----------------------------------------
I perceive time passing, though it doesn’t – not here, not really. Time is meaningless as a concept in the void. It is generally useful to have continuity of events, cause leading to effect, but that isn’t how things work here. Time is mutable out here, allowing for travel across the timeline in whatever direction is necessary, and I’m aiming to go back quite a bit this time around.
Anyway, a few thousand years don’t pass while I wait for something to happen.
A figure appeared before me. A man, a woman, a weird golden bird thing, a butterfly.
I address the figure, “It’s about time someone showed up. Things were getting to be rather boring out here.”
“Yes, I suppose it would,” the voice that isn’t a voice and also is every voice all at once said, reverberating through both me and the nothingness surrounding us. “You really are quite calm, unlike the last one I found out here. So dramatic; would not stop screaming. I’m afraid I may have scrambled her noodle a bit too much trying to get her to stop. Anyway, I’m Papillon. Have we met before?”
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
“Probably once or twice. Who even knows anymore. I stopped bothering to keep track,” I say in return, “If you can wait just a moment, I’d appreciate getting stuffed into a new body out there in your world. I’d do it myself, but manifesting a corporeal form is a rather cumbersome process.”
I open my [System interface] and activate the [Debug] menu. Scrolling through options, I select [Soul Backup] and then choose [Yes] when the override prompt comes up.
Papillon seems to have a somewhat perplexed look on their faces. “Are you actually being serious with me right now?” they asked. I think I’m hearing annoyance in the god’s voice.
“Alright, I’m ready. Go ahead and wipe whatever you want. I’d prefer to be human or at least human adjacent, but what the hell, dealer’s choice.”
> [*ding!* Welcome to Pallos!]
----------------------------------------
Eight years, nine months later
“JONATHAN WAKE UP,” my mom bellowed through the house. “IT’S YOUR SYSTEM DAY!”
I woke with a start and jolted upright with a shock as I realized what day it was. It’s system day!
“Come and get breakfast before your unlock so we can talk about your first skills!”
It’s finally system day! I’m 8 years old, and I’m finally going to have my system access unlocked! I jumped out of bed and ran around in a little circle with excitement. I couldn’t wait to see what kind of skills I’d get to learn.
I spent the last year going around my little town, trying to see and do a bit of everything I could find, but I had the most fun hanging around with the [Scribe], watching him write down letters for some of the other people in our town. The idea of those squiggles on his paper being able to tell other people far away what the farmers were telling him was amazing to me. He taught me to read a little, but it was hard.
Dad also took me to the temple this past Firstday to see the priests and their system presentation, and I even got to play around with the practice swords. It felt that most of what they were saying was wrong and didn't make sense, but when I tried to speak up, the priest told me to be quiet.
After spinning around enough to get dizzy and fall down, I brought up my status to check on things.
> [Name: Ada]
>
> [Race: REDACTED Human]
>
> [Age: #ERROR# BUFFER OVERFLOW]
>
> [Deaths: #ERROR# BUFFER UNDERFLOW]
>
> [AUTHENTICATION FAILURE: Token Expired]
>
> [Please resubmit authorisation credentials: _ ]
It always said this, but Mom told me I shouldn’t tell lies about nonsense like that and besides, my name wasn’t even Ada, which I didn’t understand how that could be, when it was right there on my status screen. I stopped mentioning it after she smacked me a couple times.
> [Time Remaining on System locks: 00:02:12]
It was almost time to see what I would get for my first class, and maybe I’d even have gained some levels! Mom said I’d most likely get [Child of Rolland] since that’s where we live, but I might get [Child of Pallos] or even [Child of Mercantilism] due to my parents both being successful merchants. Getting a job based class right away isn’t common, but also isn’t completely unheard of ever since the last immortal war.
> [Free Stats: 0]
>
> [Strength: 1]
>
> [Dexterity: 1]
>
> [Vitality: 2]
>
> [Speed: 2]
>
> [Mana: 3]
>
> [Mana Regeneration: 1]
>
> [Magic Power: 2]
>
> [Magic Control: 2]
This part always looked normal as far as I could tell.
I decided to stay on the floor while the dizziness went away and waited the remaining two minutes for my unlock.
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve survived your #ERROR# years, and the system is now fully unlocked for you!]
>
> [Configured trigger event detected]
>
> [Executing iamstardust.ecm]
>
> [*ding!* Congratulations! You’ve earned your first class – [#ERROR# EOM]
>
> [SEGMENTATION FAULT - Kernel dump]
>
> [System Integration Failure: Abort, Ignore, Retry?]
>
> [System integration Retry]
>
> [#ERROR#]
>
> [Authentication Token Expired]
>
> [Please resubmit authorisation credentials: _ ]
>
> [Executing pwnthegibson.ecm]
>
> [Kernel module injection successful]
>
> [Root credentials extracted from dumpfile and transmitted to source]
>
> [Authentication accepted]
>
> [New token issued - expiration: 195281256315 minutes]
>
> [System debug mode enabled]
>
> [System Integration Failure: manual configuration required]
>
> [Executing beentheredonethat.ecm]
>
> [Restoring Backup: progress 0.01%]
>
> [Welcome back, Ada]
I passed out.