When I regained consciousness, I found myself in some sort of empty space. All around me, I could only see the color white, nothing else. There were no decorations, no natural scenery, no other colors, just white as far as my eye could see. I tried to listen for any sounds, like a clock ticking or any animals, but I heard absolutely nothing; silence ruled the area.

“Hello?” I tried asking, hoping that there was someone nearby who could tell me what this place was. I was surprised to find out that I could not hear my own voice, it was like I had never opened my mouth at all. This phenomenon reminded me of something that I was very interested in and drew my mind away from my current situation.

‘This place kind of reminds me of space. In the void that is outer space, sound cannot travel, as sound requires some kind of medium, whether that is in the form of solids, liquids, or gasses. Naturally, space being a void, does not have any of these states of matter, meaning that sound cannot travel. However, the outer space that I know is pure black, while this space is pure white. In that case, what could this place be then? It reminds me of space but the coloration is the opposite of what it should be. In that case, could it be possible that this is a parallel to space or some kind of reversed space? Wait… if this place is like space, shouldn’t there be no oxygen to breathe? How come I can still breathe perfectly fine? I guess this supports my theory that this area is some kind of reversed space.’ I deducted in my head after compiling my knowledge of space and comparing it to my observations of this place.

‘Speaking of space, I wonder if I can see any constellations in the sky. I vaguely remember being very interested in astronomy and a bit of astrology from before my memories became blurry. Hmmmm… why can I clearly remember some of my interests and knowledge, but other aspects of my memory, like my family, are very unclear to me?’ I speculated, trying to recall as much information as I could.

After a while of going through my memory banks to try and extract all the frankly useless knowledge stored there, I discovered that my memory of pure information remained untouched. Next, I tried to recall memories with my parents, mainly focusing on conversations with them. However, I found out that all these memories except the scene I had just seen before falling unconscious were still unclear.

‘Perhaps whatever is affecting me targets only specific memories because as of now, the only memories that are still hazy seem to be those involving my family or why I woke up in a cave. I’ve never heard of any natural conditions that can target specific memories, so I would assume that this was caused by someone. Then again, it should be impossible for someone to be able to do this, but I remember that some fantasy novels had a person who was able to do this. Following that reasoning, this problem of mine should be some kind of seal. Actually, thinking back, Mio did say unlocking memories. So that means that it is some kind of seal. In that case, who was it that inflicted me with this seal and why does Mio have the ability to unseal it? I’ll have to ask Mio later.’ I thought to myself before sighing. ‘I guess the world isn’t as simple as I thought it was…’

Quest Completed

-Figure Out the Issue

Rewards

-Stellar Affinity

Granting Rewards…

Rewards granted.

Host Ayaka has received the Stellar Affinity.

Mio’s robotic voice suddenly rang out, this time, out loud instead of just in my head. Her voice jerked me out of my thoughts as I began to look around, trying to find where Mio’s voice came from. I looked for a while, but I could not pinpoint the location. I decided to give up searching, but right before I stopped, Mio’s voice echoed around me again.

Evolution Commencing…

Scanning Host Ayaka’s Body…

Anomaly Found

Eliminating Anomaly…

Completed

Generating Evolution Choices…

Completed

Select One of the Following

After Mio announced that, a small transparent screen appeared right in front of me. Turning my attention to the screen, I saw 6 options.

Hell Raven

Satori

Closed-eye Satori

Kasha

Kitsune (One-Tailed)

Underworld Chimera (One-Tailed)

‘So I get to choose which I want to evolve into? Well, let’s review the options. There are two on the list that I kind of know already. I remember Satori saying that her race was satori and that her ability as a satori was reading minds, and I remember Mio reporting that Orin was a Kasha. From Mio’s description, kashas seem to be in charge of carrying corpses or something similar, but more specific information would be nice. I don’t have any clue about what the other options are and what their abilities are. I wonder if I could ask Mio for a short description of each of them.’ I thought as I pondered about what I knew about each option. ‘Mio, could you give me a short description of each option?’

Affirmative Host Ayaka

Hell Raven: A species of raven with red eyes. They have existed in the Hell of Blazing Fires, thought to be the deepest part of the Underworld for as long as it has been burning. These creatures have an affinity towards darkness as they are born purely from darkness.

Satori: A type of youkai who gained the power to read thoughts. Upon reading the target's thoughts, a satori likes to say them aloud to shock the target. This species has a third eye attached to a wire wrapping around its body. When opened, this third eye is what allows them to read thoughts.

Closed-eye Satori: A subspecies of satori that has closed its third eye to escape from the fear and hatred of other species. They have lost the ability to read minds as a result of closing their third eye, but have gained the ability to manipulate the unconscious mind.

Kasha: A demon with a feline form who would sneakily steal a corpse to bring them deep underground to the Hell of Blazing Fires. This species is thought to have limited control over wind as oftentimes a corpse would be lifted by a gale of wind whenever a kasha was nearby.

Kitsune (One-Tailed): A species of fox that has gained a humanoid form upon becoming a youkai. They are known for their cunningness, intelligence, and longevity. They can harness the power of illusions to their advantage, oftentimes usually illusions to trick others. A kitsune’s power increases as its number of tails increases.

Underworld Chimera (One-Tailed): A new variant of chimera created by fusing the DNA of a hell raven, satori, closed-eye satori, kasha, and kitsune. This species has the benefit of gaining all the abilities of all of its constituent species but to a lesser degree. This species is rumored to exist, but none have been found.

‘Thank you, Mio, well let’s review the benefits of each. First, let’s think about what I want. If this is a fantasy world, which I am almost 100% confident that it is, choosing a powerful species would be good. However, it is also important to take into account the potential for growth. Just because a species sounds powerful at first doesn’t mean it will be powerful later on. Having the potential for growth would mean that I will always be able to get stronger rather than hitting a low limit of power.’

Stolen story; please report.

‘By that logic, hell raven is immediately eliminated because it doesn’t sound as powerful as the others. Hell ravens gain an affinity for darkness, but that is the only benefit of choosing that species. It also doesn’t sound like a species with much room for growth as the description was rather lackluster, only stating that they were a kind of crow that has lived in the same place for many years.’

‘Satori is worth considering as the ability to read minds would surely give me an edge in battles. I would be able to read my opponents' thoughts and intentions and then create a plan to counter them. Additionally, I would be able to easily extract the information I want to know by simple interrogation, which would be very beneficial. However, by themselves, satoris do not seem to have many abilities other than mind reading, meaning little room for growth. This species would give me an edge against easier opponents, but I would be unable to do anything for truly powerful opponents.’

‘Closed-eye satori does not make too much sense to me. How can you manipulate the unconscious mind while conscious? It seems to me that the only time you can take advantage of this ability is when you are unconscious, so most likely only when I’m sleeping. Otherwise, this species is simply a paradox. If I can’t understand the capabilities of the species, I am inclined not to choose it, so moving on.’

‘Kasha sounds too specialized at one thing, carrying corpses. This makes me think that all of their abilities are focused on that specialty instead of on combat capability, making me want to avoid choosing this option. Additionally, the description makes it sound like the race is relatively weak, only having limited control of wind, so I’ll have to eliminate it from consideration.’

‘Next up, kitsune. Kitsune sounds like it would be a decent choice given their affinity for illusions. With illusions, I could trick my opponents into tiring themselves out fighting illusions or projecting an illusion to bait my opponent into the path of my actual attack. Alternatively, I could make fleeing easier as it would be difficult to keep track of which is the real me and which is just an illusion. However, other than illusions, it seems this species still lacks firepower. The power of my attacks would be normal, so if my enemy could resist all of them, then I wouldn’t be able to do anything.’

‘Finally, underworld chimera. This species sounds to me like a jack of all trades, a master of none. It gains a weakened version of all the other options, but I do not know how much the ability is weakened. This option seems the most risky as each of the derived abilities may be next to useless, but it also has the greatest potential. Also, the fact that none of this species has been seen is appealing to me because it makes me think that this species currently does not exist yet in this place, which would mean that I would be the first of this species. In terms of combat, this has the best potential for being strong and continuing to be powerful as it allows many options for attacks and strategies in a battle.’

I spent quite a while reviewing my analysis of the benefits and negatives of each species before narrowing my selection down to three, as only three of them adequately meet the criteria I made.

‘So, it’s down to satori, kitsune, and underworld chimera. Out of the three, I’m least inclined to pick satori as I feel it doesn’t have enough potential to grow. Meaning it’s only kitsune and underworld chimera left. Kitsune would be the safest option, as it would guarantee a decently powerful ability, but I can’t help but gravitate towards underworld chimera. The benefits of that species just seem too appealing to me that it is well worth the risk.’ Minutes passed before I finally made a decision. ‘I’m going to choose underworld chimera. Here it goes!’

I hovered my finger over the option for underworld chimera before pressing down on the screen. I saw a confirmation message appear after I clicked the option.

Are you sure you want to evolve into an Underworld Chimera?

Yes No

Without hesitation, I clicked the yes button. After I did so, another screen popped up.

Do you want to start the evolution process now?

Yes No

I thought for a moment before clicking no. I decided to stay a little longer to ask Miu and Mio some questions that have been floating in my head from before the evolution options appeared. Before I could, another screen appeared.

Affirmative, evolution process will automatically begin in 5 minutes

5:00

4:59

After reading the message, I turned my attention away from the screen towards Miu. ‘Miu, where am I right now, and why can I hear Mio’s voice all around me instead of just in my head?’ I asked.

You are in the system space within your mind. As you are in your mind already, our voices will echo in the area instead of just being inside your mind!

Miu answered in her usual bright tone.

‘So the system resides in my mind, neat. Wait, does that mean that any damage to my head could cause damage to the system?’ I thought to myself after connecting that if the system was in my head, but my head gets damaged, then by association, the system would get damaged.

Well, no, the system will not get damaged if your head is damaged. In the first place, the system is not even tangible except by you. No one else can see or interact with us in any way. Does that answer your question?

Miu responded in a more serious tone, likely due to the serious nature of the question.

‘Yes that answers it, thank you for the information, as expected from the greatest system ever!’ I teased Miu after thanking her.

N-no problem, i-it’s only my duty!

Miu stuttered, embarrassed by my compliment.

After finishing my talk with Miu, I decided to think about the seal placed on my memories a little more. I was still unsure when the seal was placed, but I assumed that it was probably placed sometime between when I went unconscious the first time and when I woke up in the cave.

‘Who was the person who placed this seal on me? I would assume that they are pretty powerful, but how powerful exactly? Is it even possible for me to defeat them, if necessary? Actually is defeating them even necessary in the first place? If my goal is to simply unseal my memories, then there might be other ways. One of my memories was unlocked after Mio told me that I had apparently completed a quest. Perhaps I could regain all my memories by completing these quests, but what even are these quests, and how often do they appear? If I want to figure out the reason why my memories were sealed then, I would have to ask the person who sealed them, or hope that my memories will tell me. Out of those two options, I would rather choose one that would guarantee an answer, so I would have to find this person in the future. Well, I should probably ask Mio or Miu some of these questions.’ Thoughts like these quickly circled through my mind.

‘Hey Mio, Miu, who was the person who placed this seal on me, and how strong are they?’ I asked in my head

Access Denied

Host Ayaka’s Authority Level is not sufficient for an answer.

Mio’s robotic voice emotionlessly answered

Sorry about that Ayaka, but Mio is right, as of now we cannot answer that question because you don’t have enough authority. All I can tell you is that you are right that the seal only targets certain memories. You are also correct that those sealed are memories regarding your family and how you ended up in the cave, but there is one more type of memory that was sealed, your traumas. Your traumas were sealed to prevent you from suffering when you woke up.

Miu added in a saddened tone.

I learned that apparently, Miu gets sad when she is unable to answer one of my questions, probably because she thinks she has disappointed me or that she wasn’t able to help me. I also learned that my traumas were sealed to prevent me from suffering, mostly likely because I would have woken up with all my bad memories intact while my good memories were sealed and blurry.

‘It’s fine’ I consoled Miu while asking her ‘What do you mean by authority, and how do I get more?’

Authority is a measure of how capable you are of handling the information locked behind the authority restriction. As of now, you don’t have enough experience here to completely digest what the information is. As such, we are unable to tell you until you have gained enough experience. As for how you can raise your authority, just complete more quests that we assign you.

Miu answered in a calmer tone now.

‘Okay, thank you. What are these quests that you talk about? I know I’ve already completed a few of them, but what are they exactly?’ I asked, happy that Miu had cheered up a bit.

Quests are…

Miu started to speak before she interrupted herself.

Actually, I’ll tell you after you finish evolving! The timer is almost at 0!

Miu explained back to her usual bright personality.

I looked back at the screen and saw the timer.

0:30

Before I started to evolve, I wanted to ask Miu one last thing. ‘Hey Miu, one last thing, earlier Mio told me that I had gained a stellar affinity, what does that mean?’

Because we are a bit short on time, I will give you a simplified explanation and save the full one for later. It basically means that you are now able to incorporate anything to do with stars into your attacks. You can make your attacks follow patterns inspired by star-based constructs or ideas.

Miu quickly explained.

‘Okay tha-’ I started to thank Miu, but before I could finish saying it, I started to feel immensely sleepy. I looked over at the timer and saw

0:00

meaning my evolution was starting. I felt my body getting hotter as I started to feel sleepier. Not resisting my sleepiness anymore, I let myself fall asleep and I let my evolution begin. When I woke up, I would begin my new life as a chimera.