“Pig? Is that you?”
“It appears to be so sir, although I have been altered.”
“Altered? How? What… what just happened?”
“I am… unsure, Sir. I have nothing to compare it with. I am me and yet… not.”
“Oh… okay,” Eric said hoarsely, attempting to stand up.
He slipped a few times but he eventually managed to get upright. Looking down with disgust at the shreds of his stinking uniform he quickly ripped the offensive garment away. Stripped down to tattered pants and not much else, Eric used the least-soiled portions of his uniform to wipe away at the crud as best he could. He was finding that doing the simplest things now required enormous effort, and the constant stress was taking a toll. His headache had grown into a full-blown skull-cracking migraine by the time he squatted down beside Serra’s unresponsive body, his naked back to the cold metal wall.
A pained groan escaped him, his body feeling even more battered than during his first awakening. His heartbeat hammered in his temples strangely in time with the dying dragon’s hoarse breathing as it echoed throughout the large room. Once in a while he had to suppress a desire to retch as the waves of dragon-generated pressure thundered into his weakened body.
The AI in his head kept silent but Eric could feel an urgency to it, as if waiting for something.
“What is it Pig?” He wearily asked, knowing he would never get to rest with that subtle pressure against his thoughts.
“Gens Integration is at 100 percent, sir. Points are available for distribution.”
“What? I don’t… Let me rest for a bit, Pig.” Eric mumbled, wanting nothing more than to sleep for a month.
“I cannot Sir, I’m sorry.” There was genuine regret in his AI’s tone, but it continued nonetheless. “Gens Integration is at 100 percent. Points are available for distribution.”
“Okay, okay…” Eric said, resting his elbows on his knees and pressing his face into the palms of his hand. “What do you mean points for distribution?”
“Think Profile, sir.”
Profile. Eric thought.
A different blue window appeared, floating in the air before him, showing several lines of information.
Eric Rama
Non-Standard Human Adept
Type: None
Attributes:
Corpus (Non-Standard) 1
Nerve (Non-Standard) 1
Psyche (Basic) 0
Gen (Basic) 0
Titles: Pending
Cores: 0/3
Traits: None
Abilities: None
Aspects: None
Attribute points: 10
What the hell?
The last line kept blinking. Were those the points he had to assign? Eric passed a bleary eye over the numbers. Ten points to spend on four attributes, eh? Why not just aim for an even spread? He was too tired, and his head ached too much to think too long about it, so he just allocated two points into the first two attribute stats and three each into the remaining two.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Attribute Allocation is permanent. Would you like to continue? Yes/No
Yes!
Almost immediately Eric felt new warmth entering his body.
Surprised by the sensation, his eyes snapped open and he marveled as a golden glow began to shine from beneath his skin. The soothing warmth spread like a forest fire, slowly gaining speed as Eric felt his augmented muscles and bones stretching and changing, growing denser and stronger. His headache disappeared; the relief of its absence so acute that Eric almost sobbed with joy. He wiped a hand across his sweat-damp scalp as the feeling of general well-being spread. His senses felt sharper, more acute, and his mind seemed to expand his awareness across the entire room and beyond.
Eric recoiled back when another awareness touched his own.
Something was out there and it had just been alerted to Eric’s presence.
However, the effects of the healing, transforming surge kept building, pushing away the sudden fear Eric had felt at being discovered. His senses were overloaded as they entered new heights of sensation; His awestruck eyes saw flows of multicolored light permeating everything, clustering in random whorls and clusters in the air and along the walls, noticing how the colors stirred with the dragon’s every labored breath. The cells of his skin could sense every individual fiber of the tattered pants he wore, and his nose wrinkled at the heightened smells that assaulted it.
Then the building, compounding surge reached its highest point, lighting up the whole room. Eric was on his feet and pushing his back against the wall, gasping as the intense pressure climbed and climbed and then, like a deflated balloon, it was abruptly gone. Eric gave a low, sobbing breath, the sudden sensory downgrade forcing him back down into an awkward squat.
The letdown was intense but thankfully transitory, as a gentler wave of relief took its place.
Eric bounded to his feet.
All of the aches and pains he had been afflicted with not two minutes ago had disappeared, burned away in that great outpouring of golden fire. He now felt enervated, powerful. He felt that if he wanted to, he could punch his way through the metal walls.
“Hellfire!” He let his breath out slowly, wonder and delight filling him for the first time since he had awakened.
A new window appeared with more lines of glowing text.
Revision parameters grant your Gens immediate access to the three Core slots required to complete the Foundation Stage and gain an Archetype.
You have 0 Cores in your possession.
Acquire a Core and place it in the Prime slot to gain Type choices.
Choices and effects will vary with the type and grade of the core.
“Hmm. What is this Pig?” Eric asked aloud, his former disinterest changing into curiosity and anticipation. He reached, noting how his fingers passed through the screen without any of the distortion or shimmer one would expect from a holographic projection. Nor was there anything that suggested a projector was anywhere near him.
“It is the System notifying you of changes in your Gens, Sir.”
Eric remembered the windows from earlier, vaguely remembering something about his Gens and aether. Unfortunately, he had been too caught up in his personal misery to remember anything about it. Thankfully, he had Pig for that.
“Explain, Pig.”
“Your Gens has three slots available where you may place a core, sir. Each core added will give you more options regarding your Gens build. Once all three core slots are filled you may then choose an Archetype. According to available information the higher the core grades and the more unique each is, the higher the chance of generating a unique archetype.”
“What’s the difference between a Type and an Archetype?”
“An Archetype is a class created by the confluence of your Gens’ three slotted cores as opposed to the Type given by a single core. Unique archetypes may have traits and abilities unavailable to more general archetypes.”
“Does that mean unique archetypes are stronger?”
“I do not have enough data for a comprehensive response, sir.” The AI sounded apologetic at not having all the answers, making Eric wonder how much of his implanted assistant had been altered: Pre-dragon explosion Pig would not have engaged in such a lengthy conversation.
“The System allows me limited access to information regarding the changes in your body that have and will occur. More information will only unlock after certain conditions are met, and it still probably will not be as informative as I would prefer.” The AI gave a strange huffing sound. Was that an attempt at a sigh? Oblivious to the sensation he was causing in his host, Pig continued talking. “If I were to make a thesis, I would posit that a unique archetype would not be inherently stronger in terms of raw power but instead would provide advantages and disadvantages that are… more unique.”
“Interesting.” Eric said, running a finger along his chin stubble.
In the resulting silence the ragged breathing of the unconscious woman beside him caught his attention. Eric’s feeling of euphoria subsided a bit but did not entirely die away. A new sense of optimism appeared to have been a side effect of his transformation.
Carefully, Eric squatted down beside Serra to check her condition, making sure she had not shifted into an uncomfortable position, and he found himself extremely relieved when he determined that her pulse remained steady, if still disturbingly weak.
“She remains relatively stable, Sir.”
Eric nodded, but he knew deep inside that the clock was ticking down. He had seen similar injuries before, and by experience knew that the chances of something going wrong internally were very high. Helplessly, Eric leaned back against the wall, his gaze immediately drawn to the to the dying dragon.
Seeing the creature brought to mind some tidbit of what Pig had said earlier.
“What was that you were saying about a Core, Pig?”
“You need a Core to essentially power your Gens Schema, Sir.”
“A Core, huh? Do you know how we can acquire one?”
“Cores suitable for Gens enhancement form within the bodies of monstrous beasts, sir.”
A grim smile crept over his face.
“Pig, wouldn’t you say that a dragon was a monstrous beast?”
“Yes, sir, I would say it is.”
Perfect.