My phone started ringing almost immediately after Sim told me what Jeff was doing. My caller ID showed it was Jeff, so I answered after about two rings.

"Hey, long time no talk. How's it going?" My voice betrayed a hint of apprehension.

"Dad," Jeff started, his voice tight. "I need you to be straight with me. No lies, no manipulation, no hidden meanings. Just the truth. Why'd I get your tricked-out Hummer as a reward from the system?"

Suddenly, a shimmer of light. Jeff screamed as I materialized in the passenger seat, looking as calm as ever.

"Hey Jeff," I said, a hint of amusement in my voice.

Jeff jumped, nearly launching himself out of the car. "Damnit!" he yelled, scrambling to regain his composure.

"So," I continued, "there's something I should probably tell you." A sheepish grin spread across my face.

Jeff narrowed his eyes. "You're the freaking admin, aren't you?"

"What? How'd you guess that?" I asked, feigning innocence.

"Not many people talk like you, Dad," Jeff replied, suspicion lacing his voice. "And the last message from the admin sounded just like you."

I threw my hands up in mock defeat. "I knew I should've kept up the whole sophisticated routine. It just got boring."

Jeff let out a frustrated groan. "Why didn't you tell me from the beginning? Do Alec and Cookie know?"

"Well, funny story about that, they are both at home…” I waited a few seconds and kind of mumbled, “…unconscious," I trailed off.

"What?!" Jeff exploded. "What did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear! They did it to themselves," I insisted, raising my hands placatingly.

Jeff stared at me, disbelief written all over his face. "They made themselves unconscious? What are you talking about?"

"It's part of an upgrade," I explained. "There are these things called bloodlines, and genetically, you each got a portion of mine. I still don't know what mine does, and apparently, neither does Sim. Anyway, when they activated theirs and it mixed with the new mana channels I had Sim create, well, let's just say their bodies needed a bit of a…reformatting. They'll wake up when the process is done."

"So I have one of these bloodlines?" Jeff asked, his voice a low rumble. "What does it do?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure," I admitted. "Sim doesn't even have all the details. She only gets info updates once you activate it."

"Activate it? How do I do that?"

"No clue," I shrugged. "As soon as Alec or Cookie wakes up, we can ask them how they did it. Until then, we're flying blind."

Jeff slammed his fist on the dashboard, frustration coloring his face. "So you're the one pulling the strings on this whole system thing? Of course you are," he muttered. "Always in control, manipulating everything. This is why I left! I couldn't handle things always having to be your way!"

I sighed, a weary look crossing my face. "Hey, come on. This wasn't exactly a walk in the park for me either. Just like I didn't choose to raise you all alone. I did what I thought was best at the time. Maybe I wasn't the most emotional dad, but I gave you everything I could. As for the admin thing, Sim said it was genetic, but I didn't volunteer for the job, believe me."

The tension in the car hung thick as silence descended between us. Jeff stared out the window, lost in thought. I watched him, a mixture of concern and hope etched on my face. The future remains uncertain, but one thing is clear: our relationship is about to take a wild turn.

"Sim? Is that the system's name?" Jeff's voice emerged as a hoarse croak. "You can just...talk to it whenever you want?"

A deep, rumbling chuckle escaped my chest. "Well, it's a bit more intricate than that," I explained, my eyes sparkling with amusement. "Her name is SIM, and it's not just talking. We've...bonded, you could say. Like a digital symbiote. My thoughts, my feelings, my mannerisms, they are all helping to shape what she'll become."

Jeff felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. Bonded with a system? Unlimited power at his fingertips? The fantastical concepts were nearly impossible to grasp. "This is all a bit much to process," he finally managed, forcing a smile that felt strained.

"So, you're basically a super-powered... what? God? And now I have a tricked-out Hummer, powers, and all these… 'Awards' because of it?"

A flicker of concern crossed my face. "Hold on a second, let's rewind a bit. The effectiveness of your plan out there? All you. Pure brilliance and quick thinking. But yeah, I did tell SIM to have the Hummer on standby in case things went south. You earned those awards fair and square."

“Sim,” I thought frantically, “he can never find out we helped put that idea in his head. He’ll never forgive me.”

Jeff was quiet for a moment, trying to comprehend everything I had told him. “So you can truly do anything? I heard you...undid the trauma that crippled Juan's wife. A soul-crushing experience, gone in an instant. As a reward? It was effortless for you, wasn't it?”

“Honestly, yeah. I'm manipulating reality on a scale you can't even grasp. Fixing a human body is like tinkering with a toy,” I told him. “When the system goes active, there will be cities on the moon and an entire ecosystem up there. I’m altering the core as we speak. If that helps at all.”

“Holy hell, Dad.” Jeff’s utter shock still showed on his face. “This is mind-blowing. Why the radio silence after it happened?”

As our voices increased with each response, I tried to slow back down and maintain a calm demeanor. “You left to go find yourself. I know you said you were just going to help people, but I could tell it was because you needed to find who you truly are.”

Jeff's voice grew cautious. “I like helping people. I don’t need the recognition, but I like the results.”

A small smile appeared on my face. “And that’s awesome! I’m proud of who you’re becoming. I know this may be sudden and will probably be a big shock, but I’m gonna tell you something and then give you a proposal on top of it. I don’t want you to feel like you have to accept it if you don’t want to, but even if you weren’t my son, you’re perfect for what I’m about to offer.”

Intrigue flickered in Jeff's eyes. "That message about a meeting next week… is this connected?"

I chuckled as I thought about how the two would actually be connected. “Yes and no.”

Jeff leaned forward a little in anticipation. “Okay? Just tell me.”

I paused, letting the weight of my words sink in. "With your sharp mind, your empathy, and that unflappable calm you have in a crisis... I want you to be a leader. Not just any leader. After the system activates, I'm talking about leading one of the biggest territories Earth will have."

Confusion set in for a moment before Jeff asked, “Wait, that’s what you wanted to meet in a week for?”

“No,” I replied quickly, “that’s about being a hero. Being granted master tier strength from the beginning.”

The look on Jeff’s face changed from simple confusion to utter shock. “Wait, what? What do you mean a hero?”

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At this point, I knew I just needed to get everything out and allow him to ask questions after I was done, or he would ultimately get mad and it may alter his perspective on everything.

“I can create 47 heroes, and I want you to be one of them. We’re gonna need powerful people to protect others. But I’ll go over all of this in a week when we have everyone there. I need to choose the people who will actually get the advancement at the meeting. The actual offer of being a king is because if we have people like you, with your skill set and mentality, Earth has a much higher chance of making it through the challenges we’re gonna have to deal with.”

“Why only 47? You’ve already given me more power than I thought possible.”

“Dude, you’re still at the bottom of the basic level. The power I want to impart would take an average human like 40 years to get. We may have an invasion coming sooner than that, and without heroes, we’re all doomed. Let’s get back to the reason I’m doing this now. The leader role would help guide everyone. That’s what I need you for.”

“Seriously? Okay, so what does the leader role entail?”

“You get to help choose the direction for humanity. At least for everyone in your territory. Which I’m hoping will be one that houses millions. You’ll have lots of help, and I still haven’t worked out how to label everything, but I may do kingdoms. If that’s the case, you would get the role of king.”

“A king? I don’t know how to be a king.”

“No one does. The kings and leaders of the past always thought the wrong way. We need a leadership structure to be in charge, but with people at the top who actually care. Leaders that aren’t going to take advantage of everyone. The best part about all this, is that the system is gonna help. Quests will help guide you in the major decisions and you just use your best judgment for everything else.”

“Dad, That’s a big decision. How long do I have to decide? This is going to affect the rest of my life. I’m gonna need some time to consider it.”

“Until the system starts. When you go through the integration it will ask you which profession you want to pursue. The leadership roles will only be offered to certain people. Some species may not have leaders to start. I’m still not sure what to do about that. Hopefully enough people choose different species to fill all the different types of cities. If not, we’re gonna have a ton of half empty cities because I’m creating some in all environments. I don’t think humans would like an underwater city very much unless I put a shield to hold air in. But if I do that then the water breathing species may not be too happy. This whole process is annoying and I’m tired of it already, but it would help my sanity a ton if I knew you would be there to help guide people.

“Okay, well I still don’t understand all this but I’ll think about it. I still want to hear about this hero boost but right now I have to bring Juan home. He chose to save his teleportation reward because this thing will do 1000 miles an hour and it can fly.”

“I know, it’s awesome. I designed most of the capabilities. Sim added a bunch that I didn’t think of though. It’ll be upgradable once the system activates too. Did you bind it to yourself?”

“Yea, I didn’t understand what it meant at first but I I asked the onboard A.I. Did you know I can recall it now? I could let Juan take it and just recall it after he’s done if I wanted. But we’re gonna test out the entertainment thing. Oh, since now I know you're in charge, have you created a way to link up to the entertainment part with other people? It said something about linking but we don’t know how that will work. The A.I. said there aren’t any other compatible links available. It’d be awesome if we could link with people from anywhere while traveling.”

“That was the idea behind it. So you really don’t have to just sit while traveling.

Sim?”

“I have just added 10 rings to the onboard storage that will allow for a link to be created. The person wearing the ring will need to be in a resting position and accept the link to avoid incidents or injury that may occur if their body is not ready.”

Hearing Sims details on the rings gave me a great idea for the territories. “Hey Sim, add a ring per territory for leadership communication too. That would make it much easier to build a united world.”

“This functionality is already built into the territories but if you would like I can copy the meeting rooms like in Stargate Atlantis. That will allow more people to be involved in important decisions.”

“That’s perfect” I told her

“Dad, why does Sims' voice sound kinda sexy? Did you pick that?”

“What? No idea what you’re talking about. I even made her tone it down.”

Jeff glared at me with the “Yea right” look

“Okay, sure.” he said while smirking.

“Hey! She picked it.”

We both laughed for a little bit and then I remembered about Peaches.

“Ummm, I should probably tell you one more thing because if I don’t you’re gonna be really pissed and freak out.”

“What else could have possibly happened to freak me out even more?”

“It’s about Peaches.”

Jeff immediately sat straight up. He was still at home for the first year I had her and had become pretty attached before he left. “What did you do?”

“I had Sim create a bond between us and gave her mana channels. She managed to advance a lot quicker than even we thought possible. We think it’s because I’m the admin and she is linked with me. She’s already gained enough power that nothing on earth could hurt her. It will probably take someone a few decades before they are even able to scratch her.”

“Wait, seriously?”

“She’s also altered her appearance. Well, she evolved. She’s a “Golden Rottweiler Chimera” now. She has wings, with scales, and 3 raccoon tails. She can pick which physical features she wants and can incorporate them into her body. Oh, and we gave her the ability to shrink or grow as well.

“Holy crap. So she’s like a super dog now!”

“Well, there’s one more thing.”

“Just tell me everything and stop with the one more thing crap.”

“She can talk. She has a very high intellect and has a bunch of mental powers. But there’s a kicker. She acts like a 4-year-old and she’s obsessed with finding a bird that she says tried to steal her fox friend. She seriously never shuts up about it.”

Jeff sat there just shaking his head for a few seconds. He ultimately started laughing and gave me the “You deserved that” look.

“Okay, I’m gonna take Juan home and then I’m headed back. I want to see her.”

“She will love that. Do you want me to drop off a ring with Juan’s wife?” I asked.

“Umm, sure. That would give us something to do on the way.”

“Jeff, the trip is only gonna take like 5 hours.”

“I know. Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t get bored.” His expression changed to one of mock annoyance. “You know I hate long trips.”

“Okay, I’ll have Sim drop it in her hand once you leave so she can put it on right then. I’ll see you at home. Love you, buddy.”

I teleported back to the house. I thought about it for a second and decided to add a little bit of space to the basement to move Alec and Cookie to. If Jeff stayed, he would need some room too. I expanded the basement by about 1,000 square feet out under the backyard. I smiled at how easy it was to manipulate the things around me now. Instead of a bunch of excavation, concrete work, designing, and finishing it all off, I literally just thought about what I wanted and watched it happen. Twenty seconds of magic versus twenty weeks of construction was so much better. The wall looked like it just pushed through the dirt expanding outwards.

I put two beds next to each other and made everything look like I actually put some effort into the expansion. It was like I stole a bedroom display from IKEA. I, in fact, did have Sim copy the design, but I wasn’t going to tell anyone that.

I then teleported Alec into one bed and Cookie into the other. I also set up a chair between them so when I have my little chats I can talk to them both. Sim said the chances of them hearing and retaining anything I said were very small, but I liked talking to them anyway.

Once the house was squared away, I decided to check on Chris’s progress. I had activated the map and could see that he was at what he dubbed his “Training Ground.” It was about 20 miles outside of town and he was currently practicing a new spell.

Spell: Mana Bolt

Level: 3

Mana cost: 13 per bolt

Range: 100 feet

Damage: 13 per bolt

Description: Mana bolt creates a small ball composed of mana. It may be shot from any appendage and does damage equal to the amount of mana used. Advanced levels will increase not only range and damage but the quantity of bolts able to be fired simultaneously.

Chris had asked if he could get an offensive spell after I explained what had happened with the croc in Australia. He had also convinced me to give Riley mana channels and a chance at the hero upgrade. She was at the training grounds with her two children watching him.

I honestly had concerns about her having two younger children and being a possible hero. The heroes would need to be used as Earth's defenders, and I didn’t want to risk taking a mother away, especially if their father was as bad as they made him out to be. I had checked after Chris told me more about her situation. He had a morality score of 4, so he obviously wasn’t a good person.

After watching them for a little while, I was starting to reconsider the age I should grant the system to kids. They were so intense in studying what he was doing; I think they might be able to handle small spells like that. I made a mental note to discuss that with the hero candidates at the meeting next week.

Chris had asked me not to watch him like this. He called me a creeper and brought up something about pooping, but I honestly stopped listening.

I also wanted to give the other two sub-admins a chance at being heroes. I still hadn’t met them. I was honestly avoiding it because it didn't feel right having Sim give them all this power and then me taking away some of it just because I didn’t want to have to listen to them. I decided to just have Sim treat them like any other candidate, and she gave them both a skill. One got Physical Melding and the other got Telekinesis.

“Hey Sim, I think I need to take a little break. I’ve been at this for weeks, and I feel like I haven’t had any fun.”

“After reviewing the extent of what you would deem as fun at this moment, nothing normal will suffice. Your physical abilities and mental acuity would make normal entertainment seem meaningless. Would you like to walk on the surface of Mars?”

“I thought about that a while ago. I’m gonna be spending a lot of time there when we convert it to a habitable planet. What about just exploring space? I’ve always wanted to see the Cat's Eye Nebula. I don’t have to worry about solar radiation, breathing, the cold, or any of that crap, right?”

“No, Mike, your body is impervious to all ailments, and breathing oxygen is no longer required.”

“Sweet!”

A second later, I teleported myself about 0.5 light-years outside of the nebula and activated my divine sight.