The stabbing pain in my soul brought me back to my senses. I could hear everything going on around me. The high-ranking clergy member was mumbling a prayer to the goddess. My Father and Mother mumbled along with the prayer.

Beneath me, the white stone cuboid was oddly comfortable. Almost as if I was lying on a waterbed, or an outstandingly brilliant foam mattress. Both of which I had experienced, yet neither of which had been mine. I had been a bit of a flirt and player before a single drunken kiss focused my choices on just one woman—my flat mate.

Above me, the vaulted celling was of the same ornate style of the few medieval cathedrals I had visited. Instead of a detailed carving, an oddly unfinished, almost masquerade mask-like carving looked down upon me.

The air itself was thick with some sweet smelling burnt offerings. It grew so thick that I wanted to cough. I heard a couple of people cough, probably my Mother and brother.

But despite wanting to my whole body was so relaxed that I couldn’t do anything but just lay there.

‘His results have come in. Ah. It’s a Three Trait.’

There was a slight grumble and a sigh. ‘It happens. At least we still have a son.’

Aren’t I their son?

‘What would you like to do with it?’

It? They stopped treating me like a human, now I was but a thing. I knew this world was harsh on Three Trait, but I never guessed it would be this harsh.

‘What traits has it got?’

Come on Father, stop treating me like an item or animal. I’m your son.

‘Their concept is Bright Child. Traits are: Member of the Fastidious House, Seeker, and,’ the cleric gasped, ‘Divine Blessing.’

I saw a cruel smile lift the corners of my Father’s lips. ‘Sounds like it is a good match for the Temple. Do you accept as part offering?’

Even though he tried to hide it the clergy member was extremely happy. ‘We accept.’

‘Fine then finish with it so my son can be done.’

Yeah, I really need to stop calling him Father. Still it hurt. It was more of a ghostly pain born of this body’s memories. The original person loved his father, and saw him as someone to be like when they grew up. Even if, they were curious about the truth which had been hidden.

‘As you wish.‘ A stabbing pain flowed through my soul again. ‘That’s troublesome. Sorry, there is an issue with it. We shall try again later with it. But the offering has been accepted.’

‘Bring the Light Seekers here,’ the clergy member said, ‘urgently. We have a new offering and it’s taking up important space.’

As I lay there waiting for something to happen to my body, my Father. No, yes, whatever. That person who had given his sperm to give birth to me was happily talking to his son, especially when that son was telling his mother that he had already accessed his system menu.

Hearing that, the sperm donor smiled and clapped him on the back. He was even happier when he heard that my brother was a Nine Trait.

Turning to my Mother he said, ‘you’re the first mother who has granted me a Nine Trait, like myself. When we return, you shall be my wife. What would you have done with the other mothers?’

‘I like Radiant Flute, you may keep her. The rest you shall mother off. If no one wants them as mothers, they may then devote their life to the goddess.’ She then looked at her son. ‘Are there any siblings you desire?’

He glanced my way with a deep sadness in his eyes. ‘No, Mother. There are no siblings I wish to keep.’

‘So other than Radiant Flute’s daughter, she’s almost ready for her Trait Unlocking and Entrusting Ceremony. You may marry, adopt, or mother the rest off.’

‘And what of Radiant Flute’s First Child?’ My father asked.

‘If she is a Nine Trait, that is easy,’ she looked at my brother, ‘she shall marry our son. And if she is a Seven Trait, we shall use her to adopt a person in to marry her. In either case, she shall remain a part of our family.‘

There was no talk of Five or Three Traits. Yet having to marry your half-sister just because they both had Nine Traits was harsh. But I could see that my brother wasn’t put out by that. Maybe it was because Radiant Flute was indeed a pretty girl, and one we had both gotten on well with. And there had always been idle talk between Mother and Radiant Flute about having us marry.

And Mother and Radiant Flute had spent many nights together. Nights which my body’s memories thought were innocent. But with my Earth memories, I could see that the two of them were more than friends, more than allies. I was grateful that the harsh treatment she and Radiant Flute suffered at the hands of some of her fellow mothers would be a thing of the past.

A door behind the clergy opened and two muscular men wearing mail armour and a crimson tabard with a heraldic symbol of a sun rising over the horizon within a shield.

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When they saw my Father they nodded in respect. ‘Lord Conqueror,’ they muttered.

‘We have an offering. Take it to the Central Chamber.’

They both paused a moment, but carried on almost without a pause. ‘The Central Chamber, yes, Second Seat.’

‘This will hurt,’ the Second Seat said to me. His face, which should seem kindly was almost expressionless.

One Light Seeker grabbed my shoulders, the other my feet. Where they touched me felt numb, almost distant. With an effort beyond what I expected them to need to lift my small body, they forced me up and off the stone cuboid box I had been lying on.

When body was removed from the box, a wave of soul pain washed through me. My body froze solid. For a moment, more and more waves of intense soul pain washed through me until my body decided it couldn’t cope with it anymore. I sank into blessed darkness.

Before I came out from the darkness, a list of text ran through my mind.

Body removed from administration portal without correct discharge procedures followed. Damage to SuperiorSoulSolutions System suspected.

Scanning Soul for damage, please wait…

Incomplete setup process discovered. Attempting to reinitialise setup process.

Failure to reinitialise setup process. Conflicting SuperiorSoulSolution System instructions found.

Damage to Soul found. External Soul fragment with repair instructions found. Using external Soul fragment and repair instructions for basis for repair.

Repair instructions incomplete.

Reconnected to administration portal. Command instructions received. Command instructions contradict SuperiorSoulSolution System instructions. Command instructions blocked.

Reattempting setup process. Other World Edition not compatible with administration portal. Unable to activate Restrictive Mode. Unable to deactivate Adaptive Mode. Administration portal does not have permission to change modes. If you wish for administration portal to change mode please confirm within ten seconds…

**Confirmation not received. Permission to change modes refused.

System unlocked.

Full ability to increase traits beyond 1M: granted. Ability to increase traits beyond 3M: granted. Ability to increase traits beyond 5M: conflicting permissions granted.

External Soul fragment integration at 42% (estimated).

Hardly any of that made sense to me, but I was glad that whatever they had tried to do, failed. Which meant I still had some sense of freedom. That they couldn’t just turn me into an emotionless drone.

As long as I had some sense of freedom, there would be a chance that I would regain my full freedom. That promise Death had given me, about God trying to find someone to help me overcome my issues. I needed to hold on to that promise. Use it to help give me hope in what I was sure would become dark times ahead.

It hadn’t been long, but I wanted to see what, if anything, had changed since I last checked my system.

Name: People’s Defender (Displayed: Defender)

Concept: Burdensome Offering (Displayed: Burdensome Offering)

Traits:

Blacksheep of the Faith: 1M-1 (Displayed: Member of the Faith)

Troublesome Inquisitiveness: 1M-3 (Displayed: Seeker)

Demi-God: 2M-2 (Displayed: Divine Blessing)

(6 locked trait slots: 5 unused)

Hidden Traits:

School of Hard Knock's Toughness: 0M-7

(2 unused trait slots)

The line at the bottom of my menu, about full system access being locked due to age, had gone. In its place was another trait section:

System Traits

‎ Standard Analysis: 0M-1

‎ Standard System Communication: 0M-0

Before I could delve into detail about my traits, a door slammed open.

‘Right Offering, you have caused us lots of trouble. It has been decided your special trait of yours isn’t worth the issue. And because of your there is now a new Second Seat. Indeed you are burdensome.

‘So to right our wrong in taking you will be Dispossed.’

In marched three elderly teens whose scarred and wrinkled face and distant eyes looked like they’ve seen more in their life than they should’ve done. All of them wore patched, mismatched armour and clothes. With practiced ease, they held me down, forced some foul smelling and tasting liquid into my mouth. They held my mouth and nose shut until I swallowed it. With ease picked my rapidly weakening body up.

And with that, my life changed, for the worse, once again.