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The First System - Origin
Chapter 4 - A New Dawn

Chapter 4 - A New Dawn

As my vision cleared, I found myself standing in my bedroom. Still uneasy about what I had just learned, I thought of what I had done to my kitchen. I thought of all the other events that happened during the reboot:how my perspective became so heightened, time freezing, Peaches floating like she was weightless. So I had to ask Sim…

“Are there any restrictions on this? Like stuff you’re not capable of doing? Is there anything major I need to know before I just start playing around with strange powers?

“There are a multitude of things pertinent to our goal.” Sim stated. “None of which are a concern right now. Right now, you need to become familiar with the skill creation process and we need to deepen our connection so I can accelerate the development of the system. Once you give me the info and I create the skill, we can still adjust it at any time. There is a way to alter skills after the system initialization as well. I can alter individual skills tied to one person or the skill as a whole, and it will alter it for everyone. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Virtually anything is possible.”

As I walked down the hall back towards the kitchen I asked the system,”So how does this work exactly? Do I just tell you what I want to have happen with a particular skill and you make the skill available? There’s nothing else involved right now?”

“Correct.” Sim replied. “Explain to me in detail what you want the skill to do and I will create it. After the skill is available, you simply need to activate it by saying the skill name, keeping your intentions in mind, and the skill will follow the guidelines we build into it. For now, you need to be extremely specific when explaining. As our connection grows, the skill creation process will be as simple as you telling me what to create. I will be able to extrapolate most details from your intentions.

Once we are fully melded, I will be able to preemptively create skills based on scenarios you come across, and you will be able to use them or alter them as you see fit. We will need to create variations and different strengths of the skill so we are not granting extremely powerful skills to users just starting out.

Many systems in books either base these on levels, grades, or some sort of varying rating. Once all of this is determined, I will be able to build everything into each skill we create. Including the levels, how to increase the skill, where to start the skill’s power, which abilities to impart with each level, choices on altering the skill, as well as how powerful to make the skill at its max.

The one thing we do not have control over is the mana expenditure. That is a fundamental part of mana itself. I do not control how much mana is required to complete a task. Depending on what it does, a certain amount of mana will be used. At some point you will just need to think of a class, and I will compare the design type you have chosen for the system and create abilities and skills to go along with the class, but we are a ways out from that.”

I had to sit and think for a minute about all the possibilities. “Honestly Sim, I think there are positives and negatives to all of ‘em. I like the leveling aspect a lot more than the cultivation, meditation type. But how else do you increase your understanding of a skill if you don’t meditate and actually think about it?

Physical skills wouldn’t need meditation to level. Even at the higher levels. Those should just be a usage and leveling type of skill. It’s never helped me run faster or jump higher just by thinking about doing it. But understanding how mana is affecting the certain muscles or maneuvers might be beneficial. What if we did levels for everything but had many ways to increase those levels?”

I continued talking out loud without breathing much. I was going pretty fast at this point, more talking to myself and going through my logic process than telling Sim anything useful. I might have also gotten excited about being able to build this how I want and not just deal with what some random system tells me I have to deal with.

“Any mind skills we create would need to be used as well as meditated on. But those would advance at a slower rate than the physical ones everyone can get. The last thing we need is a world full of people able to read minds really early on. That would build a divide between people with different abilities and probably make people hate each other based on skills.

It might create a class divide. I’m sure that’ll happen eventually because I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a civilization or culture without at least some people thinking they’re better than everyone else. I’d just like to keep our world from going extreme and people trying to abuse their abilities early on. That way a strictly physical fighter could gain enough strength and maybe have a mind block or something to even the playing field.”

“Oh crap. I just realized that this is going to be really bad at the beginning. All the people in power right now are not going to like that their money can’t control things like they’re used to.”

“I believe we should start there.” Sim stated “I have scanned every person on earth. There are many people that no matter how you build this, they will work behind the scenes to try and control everything. Especially because one of the side effects of mana is that the larger your mana channels, the quicker your body’s natural healing will be. Pretty much any ailment can be cured very easily if you have the proper mana pathways. The more mana able to be channeled through the body, the more it reverts to its optimal stage as well. This means that dying of old age will no longer be a factor in the human life cycle if people get powerful enough.”

“Wait, didn’t you just pretty much fry my entire body and pump me full of mana?” I asked

A slight hesitation came from Sim before she responded. "In a way, yes. But your body is more mana than physical properties. I've purposely waited until you had a better understanding to tell you that you're essentially immortal now. Because we're linked, I can remake your body at any time if it's too damaged. Damaging it at this point is virtually impossible as well. Once the system is active, someone might be able to progress enough eventually, but currently, nothing on earth can harm you.

Your mind is part of me as well. Well, not a part of me, but I have a complete backup of everything you think, feel, and remember. We'll be fully integrated soon, and at that point, you'll be technically immortal. I can protect your body from danger if that need ever arises. If your body is unrepairable,our connection will allow reintegration into a new body."

"Wait, nothing on earth? What about a nuclear blast?” I asked.

“A mid tier mana shield would easily block all damage. The blast would not have any properties associated with mana either and would not be able to harm your body.”

“When you say you have a backup of my mind, just my memories and thoughts? What about the soul? Is any of that real?"

"As far as a soul," Sim admitted, "I've found evidence of an aura, but the soul is still a mystery. Without more data or a tangible way to measure its existence, I can't say for sure if there's one or not. Even before mana pathways exist in the body, everything has a type of aura. When you learn to access the 'divine sight' option you have available, I'll explain how to see it."

Needing a moment to process everything, I sat in silence for nearly five minutes. I sighed. "Alright, I'll learn about auras as we go. We'll definitely circle back to the soul thing later. It's probably tied to this aura you see, and hopefully, we can get enough info to know for sure. There's still the possibility that even if I have a soul, it might not be immortal. What you bring back could just be a clone, not truly me."

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, I decided to focus on the positive. "Damn it, I don't even want to think about that right now. Let's focus on the cool stuff! Let's create something awesome."

Staring at the gaping hole in my kitchen, I figured I might as well start with fixing my screwups. "Hey Sim, let's create a skill called 'Repair.' I still don't understand how you want me to do this, but what I'm trying to achieve is fixing the kitchen. Speaking of which, what the heck happened? The door just ripped off the hinges, felt weightless, and when I hit the counter, the cabinet went straight through the floor – concrete and all! What caused that?"

Sim began to explain the strange events in the kitchen. "In this particular scenario," she said, "When you grabbed the door, it became phased. The latches were no longer a part of it, so it effortlessly came off and stayed in your hand. While you were holding it, your intent changed it back to a physical object, but its weight became either incredibly light or your strength was suddenly too high to notice it. I'm still unclear on this specific detail due to the reboot cycle. I'm simply scanning your memories to see what transpired.

"As you swung the door at the counter, its mass became extremely dense. When it made contact, the counter and cabinets also became incredibly dense. With the force applied and both objects denser than they were originally, the cabinet flew straight down through the concrete. The cabinet appears to have reverted back to its normal structure and composition now, but it's fallen apart at the bottom of the hole. The door seems to have gone through another phase out as you ran outside. When you threw it, it remained phased into a side dimension, encountering no resistance to the force you applied. This allowed it to remain in perpetual acceleration. It was still visible, it just didn’t have anything applying back pressure. It too has reverted back, but by the time it phased back into our reality, it had already passed through the atmosphere and is currently flying near the moon."

On some level you wanted to see if the object would go through the counter or hit it. With your pathways going through flux and our connection forming while I rebooted, your control of the mana was unpredictable. This was the result. You also bumped Peaches on the way out, and her molecules phased out as well. In her case, she started floating due to gravity no longer affecting her. When you came back to turn her right side up, you subconsciously phased her back and she landed safely.”

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The explanation piqued my curiosity even more. "Wait, all that happened just from my intent? I didn't mean for the cabinet to go through the floor. I was just messing around to see what would happen.” I was curious how Peaches continued breathing while phased out but I got excited about creating my first skill and forgot to ask. "Okay, let's get to that Repair skill.”

"What I want it to do is take the object or objects I'm concentrating on and revert them back to their optimal state, not individually but as a whole, like before the damage or wear down occurred. Use intention as a guide. I don't want to try to repair the cabinet and end up with a tree in my kitchen because that was the wood's optimal state. WAIT, think of a wizard. Like the wand-holding magic wizards in a ton of books and TV shows. They can use spells to repair objects. ‘Repairo’ or something like that. I never really watched those to know what they say. Use that if you're having issues understanding my intention with this skill. Do not make this work on flesh or anything like that. We'll create a healing skill for that. Wait, the fridge door that's still flying through space. Add another feature. Maybe this will only work at the higher levels, but make it so even if the object you are trying to repair is missing parts, those parts are teleported back and replaced in optimal condition. We'll determine how advanced and at what level to include that later on. For right now, make it work on anything nonliving."

"Understood. However, what if the missing part is being used elsewhere? Bringing it back could break the object currently using it," Sim interjected.

I thought for a moment. "Good point. If the part is being used somewhere else, it should create a duplicate rather than retrieving the original part. That way it won't cause any unintended damage. Also apply the same principle to the healing spell we discussed for flesh. Once the system is active, won't bodies heal on their own?” Not giving Sim a chance to answer, I continued. “Most games and books have some kind of recovery stat. If that does happen, it shouldn’t be a factor. For now, don’t take an already transplanted eye or kidney from someone if a healing spell is used before the system goes live and their body replaces the part naturally with mana healing.”

"Okay, anything else you can think of before we try this?" I said excitedly.

“That should be sufficient. And remember, we can modify this anytime you like.” Sim reminded me.

“Alright, do it.”

"Done," Sim replied.

"Really? That's it? So what now? Do I need to point at it or something?”

“No, remember it is all done with intent. The spell will know exactly what you want–all you need to do is say the skill name with intention.” Sim explained.

“Ummm... Repair," I said. As I was staring at the hole in the floor.

The next sequence of events was now the coolest thing I had ever seen. It was so much better than the door flying into space. I watched in amazement as the cabinet put itself back together. It then floated up and out of the hole. The concrete in my basement floor repaired itself, followed by the kitchen floor. The cabinet floated back down into place, and the countertop reattached where it had been broken off.

I just stood there in amazement. You watch movies and read books with magic in them, but it's not even close to having the real thing happen in your kitchen. I turned to the fridge and saw that it had the door back on it already. I didn't even see it happen. It must have teleported back into place while I was watching the floor.

"Okay, that was awesome!" I said.

Behind me, I heard a whimpering and saw Peaches standing as far back from the kitchen as she could get. She had a horrified look on her face. Not only was she shaking but I looked beneath her and saw she had even peed. She was almost three, and I had never seen her pee in fear.

“Hey Sim, can we give Peaches the ability to understand me better? If I'm going to be making a bunch of magic stuff happen, I really want her to be comfortable while I do it. I'm thinking the ability to know my intentions and meanings of what I'm saying would be good. Not just the commands I've taught her. Maybe bond us together like in games or something. She can be my companion or spirit animal or something.”

“That would require me to change her ability to process mana and create channels throughout her body. This will be a function for all creatures once the mana is released, but I’m afraid she won’t live that long. She has a small cancerous tumor in her lung that will kill her in approximately two years based on its current growth cycle.” Sim responded.

“WHAT?!” I exclaimed as my voice went up three octaves. My heart stopped, processing the shock of my life. I had no idea. The very thought of losing her was incomprehensible“YES! GIVE HER MANA NOW! I don’t want her to die. Can we fix the tumor once she gets her pathways?”

“The tumor will begin to be eliminated by her body as soon as the process is complete. All those with mana will have some form of healing based on the size of their pathways. The standard pathway I create will be very small in the beginning. With just the ability to process mana it will prevent all forms of cancer and illness. All bad bacteria and viruses currently on earth will no longer be of concern. Some will be altered due to mana, but that will not be a concern for most as their pathways reach adequate size and structure.

There may be magical variations of bacteria or viruses eventually, but they are easily cured with a combination of mana and other elements.” Sim said in a very low, relaxed voice. I believe she purposely talked in a more calming voice than normal due to my propensity to get excited and my increased agitation when I learned of the tumor.

“Wait, is she going to have to go through what I did when I had my mana channels created? That was horrible. I don’t want her to be in pain like that.”

“No, your entire body was reforged in order for you to be able to process the amounts of mana required for the admin role. She will just have basic pathways created. This will be the same process I will do with all Earth’s inhabitants when the shield fails. For the basic pathways, there is absolutely no pain and it’s an instantaneous process. It will allow her to process small amounts at first and will grow as she utilizes the mana through skills and level-ups. Once we complete the system, she can advance as far as you would like. Most creatures will have a max based on their potential, but that too is something we will go over after you access your divine sight.

Because I have the planet's main source of mana blocked currently, I will need to manually supply her with mana to refill her pathways. The current supply of mana available that made it past the shield before I enacted containment is more than sufficient to supply approximately 100,000 people for 10,000 years. So there is no concern of adding mana pathways early. This is the same supply you and I will use to prepare the world as well as any other creatures or people that receive mana channels. Until the shield fails, we can impart these on whomever you deem ready. Once shield failure occurs, mana will spread at an alarming rate. In that moment, I must impart mana pathways to everyone and everything to avoid complete annihilation. After this, your planet's inhabitants will be constantly using mana from the core as it is created. I do calculate future build ups unless the inhabitants grow and consume more mana at a steady rate. I have also contemplated building a pathway to other planets and funneling mana but this can not occur until we complete our current goal.”

I started to get really excited. “Okay, I understand. I’m really glad I’m able to give people a jump start. Especially some of the people I know. I’m sure there are millions of people in the world that could use mana to improve their lives, but I can’t focus on that now. I’ll just do what I can to get this ready and have fun while I’m doing it.”

What happened next was kind of hilarious. It was almost at the exact same instant that she said she would start and when she said she was done. It sounded like the words almost overlapped.

“I will start the process now.”

“It’s done.”

There was no waiting, pain, or light. She just had her pathways instantly.

“She will need a little time to adapt but as you speak to her, she will start to understand more and more. To speed up her growth, I have added a genetic connection with you. This will allow her to expedite her growth utilizing your potential. The type of connection added is a little different than what your games would label a companion bond. I linked her to you on a subatomic level actually melding you two fundamentally. This will allow for her to increase in many capabilities not likely to manifest in any other creatures. I have also added a skill I created into the mana. It is a universal language translator packet. This will be a part of the system activation in order to eliminate cultural and language barriers. Creatures that receive this will not have instant communication due to their brain functions not currently being capable of higher learning but the ability will slowly become more advanced as they progress.

Their ability to understand and communicate will slowly increase based on many factors, but some may never be able to communicate fully. It will manifest as a form of telepathic communication at first. If physical vocal cords capable of speech patterns are a part of the creature’s biology, speech will eventually occur. I will withhold this skill in wildlife when mana is released. Many animals will be needed as a nutrition source for those who stay at the lower levels. Giving them increased learning abilities and communication might cause issues.

Those who become altered enough by mana or are created by dungeons will have the ability to learn and may be required to have this skill added, but we will discuss that when the time is closer to complete shield failure. Wildlife that are extremely altered and become capable of learning at a sapient level will be given the opportunity to join the system when they are ready.”

“I like that idea. We should develop different ranks and classes for people, and the ones that deal with animals should be given this ability to impart as well.” I replied. “I think having someone be able to train companions and impart this type of ability to animals would be a huge asset for what the world is going to deal with when everything goes haywire.”

“Admin” Sim started with a questioning tone in her voice. I need to understand why you chose to have me increase Peaches’ power and abilities instead of creating or finding a more powerful and capable companion. Logic dictates that…”

I cut her off. “You can’t just move on to the next best thing and throw away the people you love. Peaches is my best friend. I was there the first time she opened her eyes and I am all she knows in this world. She’s here when I come home and her entire life revolves around me. The human component can’t be explained. Most humans will choose connection and love over power. If they choose power, they never truly loved in the first place. I will always do what’s best for the ones I love. Even at the sacrifice of myself.”

“Understood” Sim replied

I was excited about being able to communicate with Peaches. I walked over, knelt down, and placed my hands on her face.

“Hello beautiful. You’re okay. You are such a good girl. Can you understand me?”

I named her Peaches but she had a multitude of nicknames: Wiggle Butt, Wiggs, Big Booty Judy, Big Baby, and so many more. It just depended on what I felt like calling her at that moment. The Wiggle Butt name would have been apparent to anyone if they were watching this unfold. I gave her many of these because when she gets really excited she wiggles her butt back and forth so hard it almost looks like she is going to snap her spine. Her tail was clipped when she was a puppy so her butt waggle is a funny replacement to a tail wag. It’s so funny that sometimes I make up a new name because I’m laughing too hard to say her name properly.

All of the sudden she stopped. Her eyes widened, and a goofy smile spread across her face. Then, to my surprise, I heard a little girl's voice in my head.

“Daddy?”