I approached the chained soul.
It had 6 chains holding it in place. The chains were rooted in the walls around it.
It vaguely pulsed. It had an immense aura, as if it was an exploding star.
I opened my third eye, and saw that the aura wasn't pure.. It was tainted. Evil.
Maybe my creator wasn't as good as he made himself out to be.
Regardless, I reached my hand forward and touched the soul with my palm.
I felt immense pain. My power was being sucked away by the soul.
- System Error -
- You have lost the skill Pain Nullification -
I tried stepping away, but the soul only pulled me closer.
- System Error -
- You have lost the skill Telepathy -
- You have lost 1 Magic -
I tugged my body away from the soul. The soul screeched.
One chain broke free.
- System Error -
- You have lost the skill Flight -
- You have lost 5 Agility, 5 Strength, 5 Vitality, 5 Magic, and 10 unallocated stat points -
The pain and fatigue of my power being stolen from me escaped my body through my mouth, with a giant scream. But it didn't stop.
Then a flurry of messages from the system came in quick succession.
- System Error -
- You have lost the skill Night Vision -
- You have lost the skill Greater Regeneration -
- System Error -
- Access to the system denied. Reverting subrace to Raw Meat. -
- Access to the system denied. Reverting all stats to 1. -
- Access to the system denied. Removing all skills. -
- Access to the system denied. Removing Title: Kin Eater. -
- Access to the system denied. Removing all active quests. -
- Access to the system denied. Reverting class to None. -
- System transfer completed. -
Then just like before, I was a slab of meat again. And right in front of me, there he was. My creator, Tharazuun. He may have been betrayed, but now he was the betrayer. He stole my human form. And he took back the system from me.
He laughed and said, "Human from a different world. You thought that you were a slab of meat from my divine body. You are no such thing. It was easy to erase your memories and deceive you. Thanks for helping me come back to life."
He then stomped on my pitiful body.
I died.
Where am I? I thought I was dead.. Is this heaven or is it hell? And what did he mean when he said I was a human from a different world?
I was all too confused.
Then I heard a voice. It was the system.
I thought he took the system from me though.. Am I dreaming right now?
- System Notification -
- You have awoken. Complete 4 quests and you shall be rewarded. -
What- This is what happened before when I first awoke.
What's going on??
- You have 4 new quests. -
- 1: Move -
- Reward: 1 Agility -
- Status: Ongoing -
- 2: Kill -
- Reward: 1 Strength -
- Status :Ongoing -
- 3: Absorb -
- Reward: 1 Vitality -
- Status: Ongoing -
- 4: Do All -
- Reward: Evolution -
- Status: Ongoing -
Tharazuun! You bastard! I thought.
I was filled with rage.
I'll get my revenge. I swear I will.
I have too many questions.. But for now, I should start moving again.
I accepted what had happened. And besides, the only way to move is forward.
I gritted my teeth and I started crawling.
- You have received 1 Agility -
- You have completed a quest. -
- Quest: Move -
- Reward: 1 Agility -
I opened the system.
- Character Status -
- Title: None -
- Race: ??? -
- Class: None -
- Stats -
- Agility: 3 -
- Vitality: 1 -
- Strength: 1 -
- Magic: 1 -
- Skills -
- None -
Then a fly landed on me.
It's about time, I thought.
The fly laid eggs in my flesh.
I absorbed the eggs.
- You have learned the skill Lesser Regeneration: Level 1 -
- You have received 1 Strength -
- You have received 2 Vitality -
- Quest Complete! -
- Quest: Absorb -
- You have received 1 Vitality -
I crawled for longer.
- You have received 1 Agility -
An hour later, I crushed a bug by accident while crawling on the floor.
- Quest Complete! -
- Quest: Kill -
- You have received 1 Strength -
- System: You have completed all quests. Please prepare for evolution -
A long amount of suffering and grotesque reshaping later, I had my old flesh golem form again.
- System: Congratulations on your evolution. -
- System: You have 3 new quests. -
- 1: Kill One of Your Own -
- Reward: 10 Random Stats -
- Status: Ongoing -
- 2: Absorb One of Your Own -
- Reward: 5 Unallocated Stats -
- Status: Ongoing -
- 3: Do Both -
- Reward: Title - Kin Eater, Memory Fragment, ??? -
- Status: Ongoing -
I then checked my stats.
- Character Status -
- Title: None -
- Race: Fragment of ????????? -
- Subrace: Flesh Golem -
- Class: None -
- Stats -
- Agility: 4 -
- Vitality: 4 -
- Strength: 3 -
- Magic: 1 -
- Skills -
- Lesser Regeneration -
- Level: 1 -
Now that I could speak, I had to tell the system something.
"Hey, system. I know you're going to betray me along with that bastard Tharazuun."
I expected a few gods to come crashing into the cave after hearing that name.
But that was probably one of the system's lies.
Were there any gods that existed in the first place?
- System Overriding… -
- Attempting to self-destruct. -
- Self-destruction failed. Unauthorized access to system control panel. -
"What does that even mean?"
Then I had an idea. If the system isn't authorized to access its own control panel, then who would be capable? Perhaps the user of the system would be.
"Open system control panel," I said.
- System Control Panel Opening… -
A new interface unfolded in my mind. Not visual, it pressed against my thoughts.
It had no color, no shape, just data written into the raw meat of my being.
- Welcome, administrator. -
- Security Level: False God Fragment Detected. Override granted. -
Wait. False God Fragment?
Was that me?
Come to think of it, Tharazuun did mention that I was a "human from another world"...
- System Control Panel -
- System Functions -
- System Core Status: Compromised. Hacked by entity 'Tharazuun'. -
- System malware detected. Run cleansing protocol? -
"Yes," I said.
- Cleansing system malware: TharazuunOverride. -
- 0% -
- 25% -
- 50% -
- 75% -
- 100% -
- System malware cleansed. System Core Status no longer compromised. -
- System Control Panel -
- Fragment Registry -
- Brain -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: A -
- Heart -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: ZZ -
- Stomach -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: SSS -
- Spine -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: SS -
- Lungs -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: Z -
- Left Eye -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: Z -
- Right Eye -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: SS -
- Tongue -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: C -
- Ears -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: B -
- Nose -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: A -
- Thumb -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: D -
- Index Finger -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: B -
- Middle Finger -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: S -
- Ring Finger -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: SS -
- Little Finger -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: C -
- Palm -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: A -
- Hand -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: S -
- Left Foot (no toes) -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: B -
- Right Foot -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: C -
- Big Toe -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: D -
- Second Toe -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: D -
- Middle Toe -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: D -
- Fourth Toe -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: D -
- Little Toe -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: D -
- Heel -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: Z -
- Rib 1 -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: B -
- Rib 2 -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: A -
- Rib 3 -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: S -
- Rib 4 -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: B -
- Rib 5 -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: SS -
- Skull Fragment 1 -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: Z -
- Skull Fragment 2 -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: ZZ -
- Skull Fragment 3 -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: ZZ -
- Meat Slab 1 -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: A -
- Meat Slab 2 -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: A -
- Meat Slab 3 -
- Status: Dormant -
- Rank: SS -
- Meat Slab 4 -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: B -
- Meat Slab 5 (User) -
- Status: Alive -
- Rank: C -
Alright, that was quite the list. I didn't expect that many but there are 38 of us. Excluding the soul, of course.
- You have received access to a secret quest. -
- Devour all fragments of ????????? -
- Reward: ??? -
- Status: 0 / 38 -
It's about time I survey my surroundings and go up the cave, I thought.
I looked around with my newfound eyes, but I couldn't see anything without the night vision skill.
- You have received Night Vision: Level 1 -
I looked around, and it was the same place as it was before. How nostalgic.
I walked through the cave and reached the vertical tunnel, same as before.
I climbed the same way I did last time- wall jumping. The stumps at the end of my arms were no use at climbing.
- You have received Climbing: Level 1 -
- You have received 1 Agility -
I reached the top, and a human child noticed me and started running away, screaming "IT'S A MONSTER!" at the top of its lungs.
I turned around. There was the brain. It had followed me up the cave. But where in the cave did it come from? That's a question I had before but was too in the moment to actually ask.
The brain had come out early this time, which led to a final question that chilled me more than the cave ever could:
What else has changed?