System Message

I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Let me answer some of them for you.

Welcome to the Continent!

Your body in your homeworld has quite unfortunately died.

This is a world of swords, sorcery, and skills.

Initiate tutorial? [Y/N]

Sorry, that part was a joke. You're not getting a choice. We don't want to toss you into the world without any guidance.

You might be wondering: why are you here? What enemy have you been summoned to destroy?

Well, the world's your oyster. You'll find enemies, allies, and adventure aplenty. There's no final boss--unless you can find one yourself.

Good luck.

System Chat [Trusted Members Only]

[Parker Wu]: I still don't feel so sure about the wording on that message.

[Jerome Smith]: It's a hell of a lot better than what I got, that's for sure.

[Aster K'lon]: I think it has its charms to it.

[Parker Wu]: ...that means you don't like it, doesn't it.

[Aster K'lon]: I never said that.

[Parker Wu]: Ugh, whatever. I don't think we've scared too many people yet, and the first reincarnators seem to be... fine. They're fine.

[Jerome Smith]: Having a System attached to them that can actually cast their skills probably helps a lot with that.

[Parker Wu]: I'd watch your words if I were you.

[Jerome Smith]: Ha.

System Log

They say that the more things change, the more they stay the same, but... a hell of a lot of things changed. For the better, I hope.

With the assimilation of the Origin System, I've gained control over the entirety of the Continent. I am everywhere and I see everything, which... well, it kinda sucks sometimes, but I'm doing my best.

I dropped the "P" from my System name. As far as I know, I'm the only System remaining here--I can't detect any others, at least--and it's likely to remain that way for a while. As my influence slowly expands with the addition of more W Inertia as people live and die, I think I can start to see inklings of a world beyond the Continent, but I haven't seen people there yet. No Systems there either, so I'm keeping the title.

One of my primary goals so far has been saving souls. I gained a lot of knowledge when I ate both of the largest competing Systems here, but there are spots that are still patchy. For instance... I don't know if the reincarnation cycle applies outside of this world.

So I've vastly increased the number of reincarnators. It costs a lot of W Inertia and a lot of mana, but there are still people fighting in the dungeons. There are still conflicts occurring here every day, and that fuels me.

When a reincarnator dies, I let their World Inertia float free and reform. I allow them to be reborn into this world as a natural citizen--sometimes, their soul vanishes somewhere else. Other worlds out there, perhaps, more places for people to start over from zero in.

I'm new to this whole godhood thing. I think I have a "true body" just like the B System did, but it's less of a genuine true body and more something that I can anchor my existence to. A massive, planet-sized foundry located in the depths of the void, so far away from everything that the light of the stars doesn't even reach it.

Is this godhood? I mean, I considered the B System and R System to practically be deities, but now that I'm here, I don't really feel any different. I'm just doing what I did for Jerome and eventually his party--it's just on a much, much larger scale now.

The world goes on. People live, they die, they live again. All of it without the reach of a System forcing them towards their most destructive impulses.

The final battle's burial took seven weeks. So many people died in so many different ways that there's still millions of unidentified bodies laying in mass graves. Thousands of acres of land have been abandoned where skills salted the earth too much.

But the rest of the world is thriving. People mourn, but humanity as an aggregate is so much better at adjusting to tragedy than we think we are. They're going back to their daily lives, and without the constant push of [Objective]s telling them to throw their lives away, people are actively pursuing non-combat activities now. In a world that's not living on the edge, people can afford to take life slow.

It helps that I'm handing out non-combat classes like candy. With the power of everyone on the Continent combined, it's trivial for me to create things like [Chef], [Tailor], [Dancer], and various versions of those as I see fit. My mind is split into tens of millions of different instances, each one of them a helpful voice in the ear of a different person on the Continent, and yet I still feel like myself. Everything comes easily to me now, even managing a world. I even set up a sorta-kinda Internet! It functions through the System, and it's mostly just chat forums for now, but it's way, way more networking than the world had before.

I'll take my mind off of it for now. It's a weird feeling, not having any burning fires to attend to, but it seems that for the time being, everything is under control.

The world is doing just fine. Maybe as we continue, there are more optimizations I can make to it, ways to make everyone's life better, but for now, under control is something I'm more than happy to accept. The status quo isn't the eternal cycle of violence that it was before, and that's what matters.

For the time being... I'll step out.

System Chat [Trusted Members Only]

[Parker Wu]: Initiating manifestation.

[Jerome Smith]: You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes at you right now.

[Aster K'lon]: Jerome, I'm fairly sure they can see you.

[Jerome Smith]: That's besides the point.

[Parker Wu]: I can totally see you.

I step out into the world, reveling in human sensation. Even after I figured out how to manifest myself into a human avatar, I still spend most of my time in the System form. It's been necessary, especially because there was so much fallout to deal with when the entire world was pit at each other.

It wasn't pleasant, but I removed the memories of the battle. Even now, I still worry that that's the first step down a slippery slope, but I can't think of another way that would've been better, and Jerome and Aster both agree with me. It's much easier to get the world back to normal when they believe that it was the Origin System that manifested itself and tried to kill them all rather than the people that are now becoming their neighbors. Of course, either way, it's the Origin System's fault, but this is a much cleaner way to handle it.

"Parker," I hear a man's voice say. "Parker, you there?"

I shake myself out of my thoughts. I can worry about my morals later.

"Hi, Jerome," I say. "Hi Aster."

The two of them are waiting already, both of them dressed up in their finest clothing.

This restaurant is one of the nicest ones to spring up in the wake of the failed apocalypse. Getting reservations is easy as all hell for us--Aster and Jerome are practically celebrities, since I've made it clear to the world that they played an instrumental role in saving us all.

"For three," the host says, the shadow of a frown passing over his face as he tries to figure out who I am. "It will be an honor to serve you, dear adventurers."

He leads us inside, setting us down at a private table.

While I let Jerome and Aster order, I take a second to use my System senses. As a currently-human with the power of the entire System, I must be the strongest person alive.

And nobody but the people with me know.

A small smile plays over my lips as I look through the world.

Axel, Aster's apprentice from way back when, is still learning his magic. He's resolute in growing to meet the power of his master one day. I hope he does well.

Arcs and Thron have parted ways. They've both returned to their ancestral homelands--apparently, those lands were in R System territory. With the additional power I've granted them, they're making a splash on the societies they're coming home to. I can't wait to see what they accomplish.

I draw my attention back. Plates of food have arrived, dainty little dishes meant to be eaten in polite company.

I dig in before the waitress has even left, and she gives me an odd look as I shove food into my mouth.

My two compatriots give me the same look before they burst out laughing.

"What?" I say through a mouthful of duck. "I don't get to do this that often! Let me enjoy my time!"

"Go wild," Jerome says. He tries to identify which fork to use for his course, but Aster needs to help him. Of course.

I look to them. Aster's still not recovered from the final battle. Her mana might be permanently damaged.

Well, it doesn't need to be. I can fix her in an instant, but she insisted on recovering naturally for a least a few months. Whenever she's ready, I'll restore her to her world-shattering glory.

Jerome's as powerful as ever, but I don't even need to focus on him to know that.

"It's been a long couple of months," I say, not bothering to wipe my mouth. I don't really need to clean or take care of this body. It's going to disperse into formless W Inertia when I'm done using it in a few hours anyway.

"It has been," Jerome said.

"I would like to propose a toast," Aster says, her voice still raw even all these weeks later. "But I'm not sure if I know the words."

Both of them look towards me expectantly, and I sigh.

"To a better world," I say, raising a glass filled with some fizzy liquid I can't identify with my human eyes. "I was sent into this world to fix a System error, and today we can live with a System that has none."

"To a better world," Jerome agrees. Aster raises her glass wordlessly.

System Log Around us, life goes on.