“What the hell is System Assistance, and why does it sound terrifying?”
Szellem chuckled again, a sound Adam was beginning to dislike. “The System will help guide your actions into the path that a true, high Affinity Mother would take. This will provide you with the guiding light that you definitely need if you want to progress far enough to actually Distill your Class.” His smile this time showed all of his bright, gleaming, white teeth. It reminded Adam of a snake oil salesman he had seen in the market. The man could sell anything to anyone, but he didn’t time things very well. The guard had to save him from a horde of angry citizens.
Paranoia was an old friend for Adam, and he valued his friend's advice. Particularly when that friend was screaming it into his face like a gibbering madman. He knew he was going to regret it, but he had to ask, “Guide how?”
“By autocorrecting your actions.” That smile somehow got bigger, the corners curling up even more. Now it was blindingly sinister. “If you try to swear at your kids, the System will correct your words before they even reach your mouth. Try to strike them, and you’ll find yourself patting their heads, or hugging them. Even shopping for food, you will have to pick the absolute best for your children. Every action you take as the role your Class dictates will be the right, correct, and true actions of a Mother with perfect Affinity. One way or another. Either you make the right choices for your actions, or the System will do it for you.”
The only reason Adam was having trouble deciding between Szellem’s message or his delivery for the most horrifying thing he had experienced in the last thirty seconds was because his mind had gone on vacation. The supposed “protection” of having this conversation inside his own mind didn’t help in the slightest. The protective portions had run away screaming in terror, leaving the rest of his mind to wither away in pants wetting horror at the vision of his future he had just been gifted.
Adam was to be a prisoner in his own mind, able to see out the window but completely incapable of taking any action that would affect the world beyond the bars. He was to be a marionette, a puppet. Worse, a hand puppet. The System would shove its fist up his ass and into his mind, its fingers his extremities, his voice its whispers. The person he was would simply cease to be. A memory, a dream, a ghost haunting his own flesh. Anything he could think up to escape, to save himself, even just deny the System his body as a resource would inevitably be denied by the System's “Assistance”.
It was a creeping horror. One that took time to truly appreciate. And something completely devastating to Adam, barely past the first step on the journey to adulthood. He may have finally entered puberty, but he was still a child in many ways. The worst way was in his imagination. Adults have a tendency to lose that particular skill as they age, losing their connection with the worlds of fantasy and dreams for the harsh taskmaster of reality. Adam’s only saving grace from the crushing despair of imagining eternal imprisonment in his own mind was the lack of life experience that also came with being a child. He was still young. He hadn’t yet lived long enough to truly grasp the concept of how much time he would be caged.
Childhood gave him one last gift as well on its way out. It gave him hope. Hope such as only a child could feel. It may have started as just a flickering candle in a hurricane, but it started to grow.
Szellem had said the System would correct his actions. It wouldn’t affect his thoughts. And he had a way out. If he could raise his Affinity and his levels he could Distill his Class into something that fit him. It wouldn’t be quick, and he would have to do it twice, but someday he could Evolve to adulthood, and a Class that would truly be his. In fact, with going through Distillation, he might very well end up with a Class that was actually perfect for him. He would almost be custom making his Class. All he had to do was survive through this System Assisted Slavery first.
The problem with hope is that it is often betrayed by outside forces before someone even gets the chance to bask in its warm embrace.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“So we’re selling a newly Awakened kid with an unknown class? Is there anything we actually know about it?”
This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“Yeah, it’s some sort of combat nanny, or something. Whatever that means.”
The two men were discussing their latest merchandise. They were city workers with a rather peculiar job. Their official job title was Recovery Specialist. In reality they filled a number of different jobs at different times. Auctioneer, slaver, fence, warehouse organizer, salesman, advertiser, repo man, fixer, enforcer, healer, and a host of other options were their day to day operational activities. Recovery Specialists were responsible for recovering some form of compensation for the city after the resolution of adverse situations. In other words they forced perpetrators into slavery, recovered stolen artifacts without living owners, repurposed confiscated goods and items, acquired treasure from nearby dungeons, assisted tax collectors with non-monetary items, forcibly repossessed city property, and then auctioned any or all of these items off to the highest bidder to refill the cities coffers emptied by recent actions.
In short; Adventurers employed solely by the city.
“Combat nanny? What the fuck is that supposed to be?”
The other man just shrugged, and handed him the report.
The first man skipped the summary that was all his partner had read, and focused on the full report. He wasn’t upset at his partner’s lack of thoroughness. They each had different things that they were good at, and paperwork wasn’t on the list for the other man. “Says here that he splattered an evolved, mid level guardsman with a single blow while defending some kids. Must have used a lot of juice to do it, because he’s still passed out from the fight. Explains the chains though.” The two men looked back down at the boy buried under a mass of chains. It’s a miracle the kid’s still breathing under that mess, honestly, he thought. Tough kid. He went back to the report.
“Full Appraisal report shows he’s got a class mainly focused on child rearing and teaching, with a bonus of a defensive combat stance focused on protecting children. Huh, that’s an odd combination, but nobles will love it.” There was silence other than the turning of the pages as he continued reading. “Not the best education, so his teaching might be lackluster at the beginning, but with a class like his he’s likely to get a knowledge skill at some point to make up for that.” More silence followed. “Oh, what’s this? The guy he splattered was suspected of being after one of the kids for less than honorable reasons. Means he’s safe to have around kids if his main impetus for Awakening early was to protect another child from a predator.”
There were no more comments as he finished the report. While he thought over their options with the kid, he had the other man help him with an inspection on the new living merchandise. This wasn’t the first time he’d had to sell a newly Awakened for the city, or even the first child, although actual kids were incredibly rare. This one’s class meant he had a good chance to go somewhere other than the fighting pits or brothels at least. Although nobles weren’t that much better in his opinion. He had some ideas already.
With the kid’s class, physical condition, and circumstances he’d sell for a pretty penny to the right crowd. Add in some of the information from the report, and a good explanation could be given to the kid to ensure he behaved. Phrased right, and he might even be happy. By all reports the chained child just wanted to make sure his fellow orphans were alright, so telling him they were healthy and safe back at the orphanage should take care of any behavioral issues.
The thought that a child would be so untrusting as to believe the opposite of anything he heard from adults without seeing it with his own eyes never even crossed his mind.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
With dead eyes, Adam looked at Szellem. The guide was still happily beaming at him as though being forced into being the System’s puppet was a good thing. Adam briefly contemplated if the man was a lunatic before he died, or did it happen after he got a job with the System. Or maybe all that strange behavior was a sign that the man’s afterlife was progressing exactly as his own life was shaping up to look like. It was also possible that Szellem’s ghost was being worn like a watch by the System, and the man just wasn’t allowed to say anything about it.
Not that it mattered.
“So my future is System Assisted Slavery then?” Adam’s voice was morose, despite the small sliver of hope that was lodged in his soul.
“No, no. Of course not. Don’t be silly. The System Assistance isn’t slavery.”
Realizing it was a pointless discussion, Adam sighed and looked back to his status page.
Name: Adam (no surname)
Age: 13
Class: Mother (C)
Level: 1
Class Affinity: 3.2%
Life Status: Enslaved,
Whipping his head around to glare at Szellem, he pointed to the giant billboard and screamed, “Then what the fuck is that!?!?!?!?”