For the first time in countless eons, the system had come across something it had never seen before, off in one of the smallest corners of the system's reach, in a world that had been integrated no more than three months ago. There were no special features that caught the system's attention. This world, Earth, had no particular traits that gave it an advantage over other worlds, nor was it individually weak. In fact, it seemed to be completely average in every way. Not a single thing made this planet special.
This world was not a unique one by any means. It was the species on the planet that caught the system's attention, or to be more specific, one individual human who lived on it. Even that was false, however. In fact, that proved to be the very reason this human was so special. Because this “human” was not human at all.
“How peculiar.” The system redirected more of its focus to this anomaly. This was quite strange; it should not have been possible, and yet, it had been done. Changing your race was not difficult. Many other species did it all the time. In the vast multiverse, it was actually rare for a creature to not have had its race change at some point in its life. No, It was his soul that intrigued her. This human soul was the only one of its kind. Every soul has its type of specialized energy, and it defined how monsters, and yes, races acted and behaved. Souls were like any sort of substance, like water for example. You could freeze it, boil it, turn it into a gas, and if you got really crazy, plasma. In the end though, water does not change. There was no changing that, no matter what method you used. It was impossible to change it… at least, that's what the system thought, until now.
It had changed. His soul had changed! The human soul was now a Primordial soul. A far cry from the Order soul alignment that most humans had. How!? Not once had the system in all its years of existence seen any creature change its soul. The strangest part was that it wasn't even the weirdest aspect of this human.
While that alone would be enough to make the boy a one-time special case, there was one more prospect that tugged on the once human part of the system's mind. The boy’s soul had no limit. This is what had caught the system's attention and was the reason the human part of her had awoken at all. After all, the only example of a soul without limit the system knew of, was her own.
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It would be hard to describe the feeling Riolu had when he looked into the eyes of the small creature in front of him. The gaze of the bunny bore into him, locking its attention to his own. It felt as though the bunny could sense his thoughts, his focus, like any mistake would be ruthlessly exploited, a predator's gaze that trapped him in place. Yet, despite this, Riolu felt that fleeing would not be an option even if he could run, for it was not the predator's gaze that stilled him. He felt his inner self speak to him, promising to see him fight through this. There existed a primal intensity that called for the blood of either himself or the beast in front of him, an instinct. Riolu knew only one of them would be leaving this place alive, his instincts whispered this truth to him, words ingrained into his mind:
“Death is not something to fear. Fear exists for those who wish to survive for the sake of themselves, but we live for the sake of the strong. Grow, harvest from those that ripen with energy, that you may grow and feed further, but waste your energy upon nothing, for energy is precious. Present yourself for the growth of the strong, for growth matters most to those who use it preciously.”
Death is not something to fear. Riolu pondered this. While he should most certainly avoid it, fighting and killing were essential components of growth, and if something were to kill him, he would serve as a foundation for that creature's growth.
“Kill or be killed. No, rather grow strong through the strengths of others.”Riolu mused to himself.
Contrary to what he thought should be natural, Riolu found that that concept didn’t bother him. In fact, he felt that he would be honored to serve a creature that could slay him.
“Prove yourself to be one of the strong, or present yourself for those stronger.” Those same words whispered in his mind.
These “truths” all compounded upon one another to form a Primordial's instincts in the boy, the code that all Primordial creatures lived by.
An ear piercing screech split the air, pulling Riolu from his inner thoughts. Unprepared, Riolu backpedaled until he felt his bare back flatten against the cold surface of the crystal that lay behind him. Like a speeding bullet, the ruby-eyed creature shot forward, ten meters of space disappearing instantly.
Without time to react, the bunny bit deep into Riolu's throat and kicked into his chest, causing him to lose his breath and making his bones to creak dangerously. Quickly, Riolu tried to pry the beast from his neck, but he was too slow. White furry legs bulged with effort as the fangs ripped a large chunk of his throat from its resting place before he could twist away from the bunny's jaw. A sharp pain shot up Riolu’s neck as blood rushed to white flesh and he covered the wound before his body realized it needed to bleed, but it wasn't enough. Riolu felt the Energy ‘A’ keeping him alive plummet and continue to fall as blood began pouring out from behind his pressed hand like a fountain.
“Fast little-” He was interrupted as it started jumping back and forth. Left, right, left, right. Hopping and blurring about as it turned on a dime.
Legs glowed an ominous white light and particles of Energy ‘A’ began to radiate from it. Like a bird in flight, the monster sprung off the ground towards Riolu, sending chunks of grass and earth into the air.
“Oh hell no!” Riolu’s panic peaked and he quickly tried to sidestep behind the crystal in an attempt to dodge the incoming impact.
Blood gushed suddenly from his mouth, and ribs snapped as the bunny caught him in the stomach before he could reach cover. This caused him to fall backward from being pushed off the ground by the sway of the kick.
He felt his vital energy fall further as the bunnies' snow white fur coated red, catching the blood Riolu coughed up midair. Doom looming ominously over him, the creature chittered joyfully as it continued to barrage Riolu with a myriad of calcitrations.
Sensing that consciousness would soon leave him, Riolu desperately grabbed at its leg before it twisted and landed a brutal kick on the side of Riolu’s head. His nose bled violently and his grip failed him as everything began to blur, bunny becoming a small blob in his vision.
The bunny retreated as soon as it hit the ground. Riolu’s vision danced, dazed by the attack and was struggling to focus. Steadying himself, he felt his blurry vision sharpen around the bunny, and it shifted on its feet as it eyed him warily, ceasing its onslaught.
Mind still in a haze. Tunnel vision began blacking his peripherals, and Riolu nearly dropped to his knees and nodded forward, foot slipping as it landed into a pool of his blood causing him to trip. Cutting his open hand on a sharp edge of the crystal, Riolu gasped as waves of pain caused him to spasm violently throughout his body. Intuitively, Riolu kept his head up, keeping him from going comatose. The bunny sat there, waiting to see him bleed out, confused. Blood had already pooled on the ground, a carpet of red rolling out from where he lay prone. It was a lot of blood. More blood than he thought he had. Riolu stared at it, mind racing. Realizing, he came to a quick decision and thrust his arm up as the red-eyed demon clamped down on it, the mongrel having found its fight again. Riolu brought down his arm quickly, pinning the rabbit's body with all his might, causing muscles and tendons to tear under the stress. Adrenaline reached its peak as Riolu’s heart beat thunderously and he gripped a fang with his free hand.
For just a moment, Riolu felt his entire arm grow cold and he swelled with strength. He took the fang in his hand and pulled. The bunny screamed, making his ears ring in the complaint. An echoing crack in Riolu’s head, and he wrenched the fang free from the monster's jaws, leaving a raking gash along the arm it was embedded in.
Pain shot up the arm like lightning but he barely noticed. Raising the fang into the air, he ripped his arm free from the body, the shredded pieces of flesh left behind in its mouth. With a herculean warcry, he brought the fang down and pierced the bunnies eye.
The creature squeals were cut short and its body fell limp. Riolu felt light, the haziness from earlier now free from his vision.
“Ha… ha…” He panted, bunny resting in the shimmering grass now stained red.
Underneath his standing figure, heavy sweat beating down his entire body, the beast lay unmoving, a fang buried through its now empty eye socket. The creature's long tooth protruded through the bottom of its mouth, pinning it to the ground. Slowly, Riolu lowered himself and he sat.
Time passed and Riolu’s thoughts stirred.
“W-What the hell was that?” Riolu's voice was ragged and he was physically exhausted. His mental faculties ran amok in his mind and he continued, “I came back to life, found myself in a meadow. And the first living creature I meet is a demon bunny that ripped my throat out. Also why am I not dead?”
Riolu stared at the pile of blood he was sitting in, with the corpse of a creature he had killed not ten feet from his body. He thought that he should feel something for the bunny, and he realized that he did. It was respect, the little demon had fought valiantly, and the only reason it had lost was because Riolu was apparently some sort of hyper-intelligent zombie.
He thought that some might feel guilt at having killed the creature, but he felt no such thing. It had tried to kill him first after all, and pity would be disrespectful of its courage. His mind was instead drawn to the new instincts and thoughts that did not match what he knew.
Life was supposed to be precious. Riolu believed that, yet his instincts told him that it was cheap. Death was terrifying. Your journey brought to an abrupt and tragic end. And yet he didn’t fear it. Humans could not feel energy, at least, not in the way he could feel it now.
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Even as he thought, he could follow the patterns the Energy ‘A’ was taking. It was moving throughout his body, stopping the bleeding in his neck and chest. He could feel it repairing his injuries.
So many questions, and so little answers. Why didn’t he need a voice box to talk? He didn’t know much about biology, but he knew that your voice box was located at the front of your neck. A section of flesh he did not have.
“Huh.” Riolu mindlessly rubbed his hand near his missing jugular, yes, his missing jugular. The bunny had not just ripped out a chunk of flesh, a gaping hole existed where his throat should be. Slowly, Riolu let his hand pass through the area where flesh should have been and shivered.
“Well, I’m not accomplishing anything by sitting here and doing nothing.” Riolu turned his attention away from the feeling and questions nagging him. A strange sensation nibbled at the back of his mind. It was almost like someone had taken a bell and begun ringing it inside his head, starting a mental tickle that he found particularly annoying. In his consciousness, he scratched at it and a window of white light nearly jump scared him as it formed in front of him:
<><><><><><><><>
[Hello! And Welcome!
You have been registered as a player in the system’s database!
Congratulations!
As a player, you have access to many system-generated benefits.
Benefits include:
Access to your Status screen.
Access to the Shard system.
Access to the Quest system.
Access to the Title system.
Access to the Leaderboard system as a participant.
Allows you to challenge dungeons.
Allows you to participate in system-sanctioned events.
Fight and live well Riolu.]
<><><><><><><><><>
Riolu stared at it. He gave that screen a long, un-processing stare. After exactly 52 seconds of this, the screen had not disappeared and obeyed the laws of reality, despite Riolu’s mental will for it to do so. He decided to indulge the madness. He had too many questions already and this screen was just one more on the pile.
“It’s like a game notification.” Lips crept into a sardonic smirk as he read. The bunny had been the most brutal fight he had ever been in. Pride in himself, fondness for the fight, and respect for the bunny, rose in his chest and his whole body felt warm. There were worse ways to spend his afterlife.
“Ok mysterious game interface, how do I open the status screen?” The notification in front of him vanished and Riolu felt something appear in the air all around him. It was like someone had dumped an ocean of power directly on him. The air felt electric, and caution barely had time to set in before it began to peel away his energy. Riolu’s entire body trembled before the might of the system as it ravaged him.
Riolu felt violated, his Energy ‘A’, his birthright, the very core of his being, was being taken from him.
“There is no way I fought that bunny just to let some menu peel me like a grape.” Using instincts ingrained in his psyche, he began to pull at the remaining energy in his body. This ‘menu’ was far stronger than him. His fighting didn’t matter. In the end, it would destroy him in the same way he had the bunny. It was only a matter of time. This did not bother Riolu, nor did it change his actions. If it wanted him, it wouldn’t get him without a fight. He took his energy, and he threw it at the system, like a grain of sand in an ocean. As soon as his energy began fighting back the all powerful presence immediately receded.
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Truly, this boy, no Riolu, was a creature unlike any the system had dealt with before.
She had long read the status of creatures. There was something of a record that all creatures kept in their soul. A text if you will, telling of everything a creature has ever done or thought, its very essence.
The system read this, and used it combined with physical information, to provide the status screen for creatures to see.
She had long since determined that creatures went farther with an accurate, unbiased assessment of their skill.
This was the first time however, that a creature had actively sensed her proddings. Not only that, but he had been able to resist it as well.
For the whole of her life, the system had known other creatures to be blind to the energy she controlled. Yet here was a creature that could fight against her. This both intrigued and scared her.
On the bright side, she could always just destroy the creature and, if necessary, the entire planet it resided on.
She thought for a moment, and decided that she would see just how far the creature could go.
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Riolu was shocked and wary. That all powerful force had given up surprisingly easily, and it gave him a bad feeling.
A new screen appeared in front of him.
[Notice:
You are the first creature ever recorded that has had such an adverse reaction to the system scanning. Creating an alternative method.]
“Who in their right mind would be ok with someone rummaging around in their body like that? And how on earth is everyone else just fine with it?” Riolu scolded, angry at the all powerful white boxes in front of him.
[Notice:
Of all the creatures currently in existence, you are the first recorded case of a creature that can physically feel its own soul. For this reason, other creatures only grow uncomfortable. Eventually, they build up a tolerance for the process. And some have even come to enjoy the feeling.]
Riolu thought about that for a second. Some people enjoy it? He knew of masochists but, could someone really learn to enjoy… that? And what’s this about being able to feel his own soul? His thoughts were interrupted yet again by a notification appearing directly in his line of sight.
[Notice:
The system offers an alternative to the individual Riolu.
<><><><><><><><><><>
New Quest Available: The Basics of Energy
Would you like to open the quest details screen now?]
<><><><><><><><><><>
“STOP INTRODUCING NEW QUESTIONS!!!” Riolu yelled and the screens retreated backwards, changing to a dull gray color, the same way his crystal had. He didn’t know why, but he felt bad for yelling at it. He read it again and with a sigh.
“Does it involve scouring my soul?” Riolu asked with obvious hesitation.
A new screen appeared in front of him, this one white and blinking annoyingly.
[Notice:
In order to provide access to your status screen, the system requires information from your soul. Specifically, the system requires the records recorded within your soul. Without this information, no status screen can be provided. The system is offering to teach you to control your own energy to provide the system with the information required to complete your status screen. As such, the system will not affect your soul in any way.]
Riolu visibly calmed as he read. He looked at this screen and thought about the information. On one hand, he could reject the offer and lose access to his status screen. Unfortunately, his inner gamer said that such a thing would be incredibly useful in the future and, more importantly. It may answer some of his questions. On the other hand, he could accept it, choosing to trust the boxes for now.
The deciding factor in his choice ended up being the fact that this “system” was powerful enough to destroy him easily. It just didn’t make sense that it would lie to him. It definitely had nothing to do with him feeling guilty for yelling at it.
“I accept the compromise you suggested,” Riolu said and no sooner had he done so, then he felt the alarmingly powerful presence settle around him, causing him to flinch. It did not take long for the system to begin teaching.
It had a very off handed method of teaching, which in this moment, Riolu appreciated. At first, the energy all around him formed some kind of complex structure. Via some trial and error, Riolu came to realize that it was a replica of his soul's makeup.
The structure the system provided changed and, watching this change, Riolu did the same to his own soul. As he pulled layer after layer of his soul away, he realized that the main problem he felt from before was his lack of control over the process. He himself did not actually feel pain as it continued. It was actually quite easy.
There was only one problem… He felt naked. Truly, he had been physically naked since he first awoke in this place. But peeling away the remnants of his soul and revealing it to some all powerful force in the sky?
It was the most embarrassing feeling he had ever felt before and if it was actually another human, he didn’t think he would have been able to manage. To compound the problem, he could feel the system's attention. It was watching him and was making it exceedingly hard to focus. Finally, an eternity later, he had reached the deepest layer of his soul.
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The system watched Riolu fumble around with his soul. It was honestly kind of cute, watching the way he tripped over himself in the process. If his energy was paint and his control canvas, then he would be throwing it at the wall and hoping for a painting. It seemed it would take Riolu quite some time to gain control over the Primordial Energy that made up both his body and soul.
It was fascinating, the way the Primal Energy worked as compared to her own. Every time she would give her energy a command, it would not follow it unless the command itself was exact. Every calculation, every situation, had to be accounted for.
On the other hand, Riolu’s Primordial Energy seemed to meld to his will. Almost as if it understood his intention and began working towards it. There were both downsides and upsides to how that worked. For starters, it didn’t seem like he could control that process. He would never know when a stray thought would cause a chain reaction of events.
Her thoughts were drawn away from that line of thinking as the system realized that as interesting as watching the child was, it would not last long. Soon the other monsters would spawn and Riolu would need to fight, flee, or hide.
She could just create a safe zone or provide him with a barrier. But that would be special treatment, and all creatures must be treated equally, regardless of her own personal interest in them. The system's inner monologue was cut off by a change in the boy’s training.
“He just moved past the first layer…” the first words to have escaped her lips in eons served as a herald to her astonishment. The boy had dived into the first layer of his soul. This child had just accomplished in five minutes what had taken her thousands of years. Was it possible that showing him the process had expedited his progress that much? Or was this a result of his primal nature?
“How terrifying…”