Chapter 3: Chapter 2: Nostalgia – Part 1

His memory took him back to age ten, the day his life changed almost overnight. He was what was known as a realm orphan, a child that was left behind in the wake of a realm gate incursion, where a foreign dimension smashes into ours.

Despite being alone with no family, he didn’t stay that way for long though and he spent most of those first ten years living with his first foster mother. Then he got the same notification everyone got.

[SYSTEM INSTALL IN TEN DAYS…]

With that his life changed very quickly, his foster mother prepped him and sent him to the Installation Day Centre or “IDC” as people called it.

“Good luck baby, whatever happens… You can come back.”

“Thanks Mum, but I can’t keep leeching o-”

“You will come back and see your mother one day. That isn’t a request young man.” She smiled despite fighting back tears, then pushed him out the door before she broke down.

Ten days and several hours later he was standing anxiously in a line a thousand kids long. That was how everyone spent their tenth birthday, no one in lines had any history with each other some weren’t even human.

Then it came. “Next… Happy birthday kid, fingers crossed you get a good system build. Just stand on the display pad.” The man was surprisingly cheerful after already doing a couple of hundred evaluations.

[SYSTEM INITIALISING, PLEASE WAIT…]

[SYSTEM ERROR, MANA DENSITY TOO HIGH FOR CURRENT SYSTEM…]

[SYSTEM WILL ROLL BACK TO FIRST SUITABLE BUILD…]

[SUITABLE BUILD FOUND, NOW INSTALLING…]

[CONGRATULATIONS, SYSTEM INSTALLED BUILD MODEL -1.0.0 DEUS PRIMORDIA]

[ERROR DEUS PRIMORDIA INCOMPATIBLE WITH RACE]

[DEUS PRIMORDIA PATCHING]

[NEO PRIMORDIA CREATED… SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED]

“Hey kid, congrats. Never seen that one before, now step to the side and make way, the notifications will be coming for a while.” The cheerful operator wasn’t lying, the notifications came relentlessly and gave many migraines.

Carl was unluckier than most, the notifications were manic and the results barely made sense to him. His foster-mother had told him about different stats and what they represented but he had some she had never mentioned.

After a fair amount of time, when his migraine had passed, a woman came by to collect him. “Carl Reaga?” She asked, eyeing him with a studious expression. “Seems you’re feeling a bit better. If you are ready for the second part, then please follow me.”

Carl in truth wasn’t feeling much better, he was confused and worried and neither had much to do with the migraine. She led him into a private room, sterile white with a desk and computer to one side and a large chair that was essentially a more advanced form of the pad he had stood on previously.

“No need to be nervous, my name’s Lydia. Now, whenever you are ready, take a seat and we will have a look at your system, it’s my job to help you understand some of the finer points.” Her gentle voice made and soft features made her perfect for her role, she was so pretty Carl developed a bit of a crush immediately and sat on the chair, as soon as she had mentioned it to show-off his bravery.

As she gave him a warm smile which made him blush a little, she sat down. With a few button presses the chair whirred, which she immediate reassured him was normal, then with a tone of what he thought was genuine excitement she declared “Now let’s see what you’ve got, shall we?”

With one more button press, his system interface was made visible.

[ SYS BUILD = NEO PRIMORDIA V -1.0.1 ]

[ NAME = CARL REAGA] [RACE = HUMAN + ] [LEVEL = 1 ]

[ VIT = 400 x LVL ] [ DEF = 37 x LVL ] [ INT = 59 x LVL ] [ STR = VIT + LVL + DEF ]

[ DEX = 358 x LVL ] [ CHA = 28 x LVL ] [ MP = INT x LVL ]

[ HP = VIT + PET VIT ] [ DIV = 200 x LVL ]

[ SKILLS = NEO ADIMINISTRUM, NEO GROWTH, NEO PET, NEO PRIMORDIA, NEO CHIMERISM, NEO SANCTA, ] [ NEO GENISIS, NEO MAGICKA, NEO DEUS, NEO PROGENY, NEO MATERIUM, NEO-SYNTHESIS ]

[ SKILL RANKS = F = 0, E = 0, D = 0, C = 0, B = 0, A = 0, S = 0, SS = 0, SSS = 11 ]

[ ADDITIONAL = ] [ NEO PET SLOTS = 1, VALUE = 0.1% OF DIV ( MIN VALUE 1 ) ] [ TITLE = MINUS ONE SUCCESSOR ]

“Mr Reaga, I don’t know whether to say congratulations or commiserations. I can officially confirm you are the first user of this system build. Unfortunately that means I’m not much use to you. It seems you might have some summoner or adjacent ability, if you have the money, we have some monsters prepped for tamers to bond with, that will at least give you… Actually, wait just one moment please.” Lydia suddenly stood and left.

Carl had been trying to hide his grief in front of her, but the moment Lydia left, he broke down. Tears formed heavy streams. “I’m sorry Mum, I got a stupid build that no one knows, how will I pay you back now?” Once they started, they refused to stop.

Carl never actually said it aloud, but after watching her skip meals to see him fed, clothed and homed, he had made a promise to himself that he would not keep leeching off of her after that day. She deserved to live comfortably and knowing she was sacrificing her own joy for him, gradually made him grow to hate himself.

When Lydia returned and saw him bawling his eyes out, she rushed over and cranked the comforting demeanour to the max. “Hey, hey, hey. Sorry, did I worry you? Everything is fine Carl, in fact better than fine, but I’ll only tell you if you can be a very brave boy for me, okay?”

Carl nodded, but it still took him a good while to settle himself. “Sorry, I swear I never cry, my mum would worry too much.” He tried to explain without making it sound like his mother punished him for having feelings.

“Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that before I give you the two bits of good news…” She took a moment to calculate how to ask her next questions without upsetting the young man before continuing. “Carl, I need you to confirm a few things, yes or no answers only please.”

Carl became a bit self-conscious, knowing she was the first to see him cry in years and only managed a timid nod as a response.

“You are a realm gate orphan, aren’t you?”

“Yes.” He managed weakly after she insisted on a vocal response for audio logging.

“Would you be willing to leave your adoptive family, even if you love them?”

“Yes.”

“Would you be willing to live and study at the System Advancement and Training Station on Sectura Prime for the next eight years and call another woman mother?”

That question was harder for him to answer, leaving earth and training at the SAT-Station was a dream, but calling another woman mother, well, it felt disrespectful. It was a painful concept, far more painful in practice than the training would be a dream-come-true.

“Yes.” He finally said, ultimately deciding that even if he could never call her mother again he could at least pay back her kindness and love.

“Well then I have two bits of good news as I said earlier. One, don’t worry about the money issue, for a long time. The operators have had a pool going for decades with half going to the operator who would guess the version number of the next new build, but since no one guessed it, the one in charge just told me it all goes to you and the sum is incredibly substantial I’m told.”

“Wh- What? W-” Carl’s brain had largely stopped functioning by that point. The idea of becoming wealthy was something he had planned for after the SAT-Station in his wildest dreams.

“Next, sorry, I had to be a bit harsh. I’m very close to the current vice director of the SATS, she never had good luck with men and always wanted a child. She often speaks of adopting, but only Reaga can be adopted liberally. She would never stop you contacting her at all, but I didn’t want either of you stuck pretending to be in a mother-son relationship, I already called her and she agreed immediately, so I apologise if she goes overboard to begin with.” Lydia chuckled softly as Carl tried to keep up.

“So I can still call my first mum, Mum?”

“Of course, but please try not to play favourites. It would break Leanna’s heart if her child didn’t love her.”

“I promise, most people have two parents, I just have two mums and no dad.” Carl grinned, the secret wish for that second parent finally being filled in the most unexpected way.

“Now that money isn’t an issue for you, would you like to see if we can fill that pet slot? It might also help you figure out some of those skills of yours, or even unlock a new one. Oh and you will be leaving for the SATS immediately, so afterwards we will sit down and I will help you write a letter to your other mother and I will personally deliver that to make sure it gets there.”

“Err, could I ask you to take her some of my money as well?”

“Of course, but the area is fairly low income, giving her a lot could put her in danger, so would you like me to choose a good amount, then I’ll ask Leanna to set up a monthly payment to her for you.”

“Lydia, thank you. You’re very nice, why are you helping me so much though, aren’t you busy?”

“That’s sweet and I am, but many children go through tough decisions today, so this is actually part of my job… Well except being my old friend’s adoption agent, that was just for my own amusement. I’ve never seen her literally jump with joy before.” Lydia laughed, before helping him up and leading him to the companion shop.

The hall was massive with hundreds of different creatures, so many it made it difficult to pick. Upon their arrival, Lydia had collected a holographic slate, which could be used to mark favourites and narrow down choices, then she suggested the first loop was purely to get a gauge of what creatures were present, then the second would be when he should start tagging potentials.

Lydia’s voice made everything she said sound almost irrefutable, but putting her advice into action proved it sound as well. They had done three full laps by the time Carl declared he was down to his final three.

“What do you have tagged still?”

“Oooo, I have the gluttonous shifter, the decium serpent and the matter slime.” Carl exclaimed excitedly, before quickly sinking. “I wish I had three pet slots they’re all awesome!”

“Why those three? They aren’t actually very popular choices, you have me curious young man.” She smiled as he ran through the emotional roller-coaster.

“Gluttonous shifters change their body to anything they eat, most people just feed them rocks and stuff for the defence, but I want to feed one demon-dragon scales. I also like how they can change between the materials they’ve eaten.

The decium serpent has incredible senses and they have been known to evolve into elemental and winged serpents with summoners.

The slime, they’re just the best in summer, a man back at my old home has one, they stay cool all year round and they also regenerate and can multiply and they can eat almost anything.

The only thing that would be better is if I could mix all three and have all that awesome in my one spot.”

[ SYSTEM ALERT… SKILL NEO PRIMORDIA WOULD ALLOW THAT]

The system alert made Carl drop the slate and clutch his head. “Carl? You okay? Did you get a system notification?” She knelt down and petted his head gently.

“Yeah… It said I could.”

“Could what, Carl?”

“Mix all three to fill my one spot. The skill Neo Primordia.”

“Well then, if you are willing to spend the money, that is an incredibly powerful skill and no wonder it is SSS-Ranked, also it would certainly make for an interesting introduction with your new mum depending on how it turns out.” She chuckled devilishly.

“Lydia, that laugh is scary, but yes I really want to try it.”

Lydia ignored the comment about the scary laugh and took him by the hand as they approached a handler to explain the situation.

“Wow! Impressive skill, tell you what, if you demonstrate it publicly we’ll give you the cheapest beast free and I will give Lydia the name of our beast supplier so you can special order some to the SATS when you get your second slot.”

“Wait, should I try four, or five?”

[ SYSTEM WARNING… ATTEMPTING TO DO SO WOULD BE GREEDY SUCCESSOR]

“Another alert?”

“No, it said “System warning” then something like that would be greedy, but it hurt. So I don’t think I’ll try this time, maybe next time.”

“Smart, new builds can be dangerous until you learn to understand them.”

With that, the handler went and got two colleagues, then the three of them collected the tagged specimens and brought them over for the demonstration. “Whenever you’re ready then Carl.”

Just as he was about to start, a young girl’s voice cut through the room with the stunning effect of dragging a fork against a plate. “AUNTIE LYDIAAAA!” The five of them turned immediately towards the shrieking yell.

“Klaire, please don’t scream, you get your howl from your mother’s banshee blood.” Lydia squinted, talking slightly louder than usual with features much more rigid than they had been.

“Sorry, Auntie, I heard the news from Mum. Is this the boy that will be my new cousin? Wow! You can have three pets?” The girl’s eyes quickly began sparkling.

“Not quite, just shush a minute and watch.” Lydia chuckled before crouching behind her and covering her mouth so Carl could work in peace, then gestured for him to begin.

Carl stepped closer to the three animals, carefully petting each in turn as a book his mother got him when he was young told him to do in such a situation.

[ THREE VIABLE TARGETS SELECTED ]

[ USE SKILL NEO PRIMORDIA? Y/N ]

Carl selected “Yes” mentally and the animals began to glow, then they gently collided and disintegrated into what seemed like light particles, which in turn spiralled together and compressed until they formed the new creature.

The new creature was roughly a metre and half long and half-that tall. It had the body of the decium serpent, but it grew thicker in the middle and it had the gluttonous shifters four legs. Its body was cycling through three states, reptilian, gelatinous and the almost gravel-like surface of the gluttonous shifter.

[ CONGRATULATIONS, NEW SPECIES BORN ]

[ PLEASE NAME SPECIES ]

[ PLEASE NAME PET ]

Everyone was stunned, to say the least. “It wants me to name the species and the pet itself.”

“Well, got any ideas?” One of the handlers asked excitedly, clearly eager to give suggestions, which was not something Carl wanted.

“I think I’ll call the species gluttonous-slimedra, like the hydras in Greek legends, as for this one? He’ll be Squidge!” As if to accept the name, it shifted to gelatinous and stopped cycling as it tried to jump into his arms, knocking him to the floor instead.

[ CONGRATULATIONS, SPECIES “GLUTTONOUS-SLIMEDRA CREATED ]

[CONGRATULATIONS, PET “SQUIDGE” HAS BEEN ACQUIRED ]

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