David was smiling, staring at his fiery wife screaming for their son to hurry up. The Bradkham family home was always a very noisy place; every morning was a true American sitcom. He could almost hear his laugh replacing the ones from the laugh tracks.
Drinking a coffee, the nice warm feeling of the beverage goes down his throat slowly, making him less and less drowsy. He gently turned the page of his favorite magazine, “The Amazing Plants you don’t know about!”
He heard his son’s wheelchair slide down the stairs as if he had ten more lives. The daredevil halts his descent with his brakes. David couldn’t be prouder of his children; they did have their annoying moments, but all kids did.
“Careful, Jacob, we already told you that rolling down the stairs is dangerous.”
“I’ve been doing that for the last eighteen years of my life, Dad! And we know that Rose is gonna win so - ”
Rose just threw her banana peel in his face as he reached the kitchen.
“Really, Rose? I was being friendly there!”
“I just don’t like your face.”
As the two settled around the table, soon followed by his lovely wife, Lan, a rather beautiful asian woman with deep black hair and ruby red lips, to the point their kids called her “Supreme Leader Snow White”.
He got up, bringing every member of his family a plate with pancakes, eggs, and bacon, a typical breakfast for them. He wasn’t a chef, but it would suffice. Kissing Lan softly as she gave him a loving smile, he looked at Rose.
“Remember to -”
“I know dad. Don’t be worried. Have you forgotten? I’m the best.”
“Yeah, the best at s- “
Jacob’s words were swiftly interrupted by a butter knife slamming next to his hand on the table, courtesy of Lan’s precise aim. No one knew how she did that; his kids would call it her “mom’s power,” but David knew Lan hid something from them.
But he trusted his wife fully, just like she trusted him. If she didn’t say anything, then it was better for everyone to not know.
“Finish that sentence and you g -”
“Alright, everyone, calm down.”
David's words cut through; he gently held his wife’s shoulder in a comforting grip. Lan just couldn’t stand when Jacob and Rose would argue. He sat down with them, finishing his coffee. The smell of bacon, eggs, and toast floated around the table.
He could see Jacob’s eyes looking around, clearly wanting to say something.
“What’s on your mind, Jacob? Didn’t you have some important raid last night?”
“Oh yes! We finished second. Sam couldn’t hold the aggro, and our healer lagged at the worst time possible. Not too bad, but still pissed we didn’t finish first. Got the 1 000 000$ prize instead of the 20 000 000$ and a place at the World Championship. Those fuckers from the Colyseum were just better last night.”
Jacob was a true video game lover. His wheelchair made it hard for him to move around. He quickly got into it, and with the swift and sudden spread of the VR-Guilds, most financed by Vermillion Corp, they literally owned almost everything now.
“Congratulations, Jacob!”
“Proud of you, son.”
“Yeah, yeah, proud of you lil’bro… “
“By the way… if you remember things right… You ALL promised that, if I finished in the top three, you would finally try their new game that’s gonna come out in three years: Project Rebirth! No excuses! You’re all gonna have to play with me!”
Rose groaned in annoyance, while Lan seemed to try to remember this had happened. However, he wasn’t lying; Jacob did make them promise that. Because of the developing VR-tech, which came straight out of that old anime David had watched years ago. WAO? XAO? What was the name again?
“Well… we did promise, so it’s fine by me, but get ready to be shown why your old pops was in a competitive guild in his youth!”
“No way! I have too much stuff to do!”
“Stop with that excuse, Rose! It’s 2046! EVERYONE plays VR-games! Even your cheerleader friends play them! You’re the only one who doesn't!”
Rose’s refusal was expected, but Lan mouthed a few words to his daughter, making her sigh as Lan insisted on the family activity, which “could actually be pretty fun!”
“Come on, Rose, we did promise it to Jacob! And don’t you want to see how your old mom looks like with some sexy cat gi-”
“STOP!”
“Please don’t finish that sentence mom!”
Jacob and Rose made a disgusted face as Lan and David laughed. No matter how old kids get, even one word about anything related to their parents, and the “s” word would make them react this way.
“Alright! I’ll play it with you guys! And PLEASE mom don't do that to us.”
“Then it’s decided, you all go to Rose’s rehearsal, and when you come back, I’ll see if there aren’t some other games we can do together while we wait for Project Rebirth.”
David ended the discussion, putting his empty cup down on the table. The clock was ticking closer and closer to the rehearsal time. He got up, picked up his daughter’s bag as the whole family got out, having just the time to finish their breakfast.
David threw the bag in the car’s truck, both his kids went behind, and his wife kissed him just before entering the driver's seat.
“Be careful on the road, Lan.”
“Don’t worry, you know I’m the best.”
David’s eye was now emotionless, just a glowing green light that remembered some of his last happy memories of his past life. If he only had known it was the last time he would talk to them. If only he had -
[Is that your last memory of your family?]
“Yes. The last one before they… “
[Died?]
“Yes Syllena.”
[We’re sorry if we -]
If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
“Do not worry. Everything is fine, Syllena.”
[Your world sounds strange yet interesting.]
“It was…”
[Do you have anything more we could learn?]
David smiled softly, not even realising that Syllena’s relentless questions and curiosity allowed him to not feel completely alone. They had even started to look at the stars, and Syllena had to find the corresponding shape.
[The one to the left! That’s a car!]
“Nope. But well tried.”
David’s laughter felt a bit warmer now. He would also sometimes ask a question about the System or this world. Those answers, for most of them, could be simplified as “I don’t know.” Syllena truly had no idea.
He had almost not seen the night pass when the first rays of the sun started shining down on them. David stood up, ready to start his search, stretching by force of habit. Not even a single crack. Perhaps David’s most disappointing experience in this new world.
“Time to start back our relentless search for Advanced GS-Bots, my loyal disciple!”
[Onward!]
While he walked, he also asked Syllena to make a small list that compiled all he now knew about the system and ranks. And what he and Syllena figured out together!
[1 - Syllena did not feel that she fully belonged to the System. David was most likely leeching off its abilities while going around many of its restrictions.]
[2 - Syllena wasn’t the one who gave the quest named [One Last Farewell]. It came from the System itself, but not from her.]
[3 - His system seemed to have the ability to make any newly acquired or upgraded traits count as if they had been there since level 0 toward stats attributions. This was apparently not an intended feature, so it had to be one of the restrictions that David could evade.]
As David reviewed that information, he started to think that this system might be unique to him. He seriously doubted casual players, who were the most numerous, would like having to work around finding the best and most “meta” traits to level up effectively.
And having to pass six weeks of training to obtain the [Sword Mastery] trait for a plus one to Dexterity didn’t sound like good game design to David. This also meant he didn’t need to hold back on leveling up too much, as he could focus on obtaining great traits later on.
But that didn't mean it wouldn’t be useful to max his power with good traits in his early levels. But for now, he had a clear objective: obtain a full set of Advanced Scrap Bot parts.
His hands and feet gripped and pushed at the scrap under him as he slowly but surely climbed up the pile. He intended to use it as a watch tower to find some Advanced Scrap Bots.
When he reached the top, the sun was at its highest and hottest, his eye able to see the horizon make heat haze, or mirages. And after an hour or two running all over the Scrapyard at peak speed, which would have made most people shocked at this little robot’s speed, finding only Scrap-Bots, he finally met one!
[Target located, boss!]
An Advanced Scrap-Bot! Busy pulling some big bronze pole with him toward a lava-pit. David walked toward the hard-working robot, quite fast, as he was eager for more body parts.
“That sounded wrong…”
He used [Analyze]. And decided he would definitely not approach the Advanced GS-Bot, unless he wanted to be the one who’d finish in parts.
“I was very lucky I got this [Data Break] skill. Those Advanced GS-Bots would have turned me into scraps. Literally. Thirty-five strength makes it…”
David looked at the strength chart Syllena had done. “... stronger than a gorilla.”
[Data Break]
The Advanced GS-Bot started to burst from the inside, green lightning coursing through its body as it collapsed on the floor, smoke coming out of its body. Only then did David’s hand touch the Advanced Scrap Bot, kneeling and seeing a familiar message appear.
[Advanced Gnomish Scrap-Bot was killed by [Data Break], received 20EXP]
[Advanced Gnomish Scrap-Bot is suitable for the [Uncommon Robotic Body]. Please choose a part to be harvested.]
David pressed both the arms and legs slots. Luck was on his side today, and he was able to obtain both. A very minor victory, to be fair. But one nonetheless.
He put on every newly acquired body part. He stared at his newly upgraded body. He did feel like, for now, the [Equipment] tab didn’t really fill that role; it was more like a [Body-Modification] tab.
“Syllena, change the name of the [Equipment] tab into [Body-Modification] tab and open it, please.”
[You have obtained the [Complete GS-Bot] trait and can now upgrade your [Common Robotic Body] to the [Uncommon Robotic Body ]. Do you wish to proceed?]
“Yes”
[Understood, please brace for the incoming changes.]
David’s robotic body started to morph and change, his whole body getting more bulky. Now his arms had shoulder plates and thicker joints with what seemed to be some sort of added bracers and cables to hold everything in place.
His legs have gotten a similar upgrade, looking thicker and with plates of copper and reinforced joints, including some powerful pistons for a boost in speed and dexterity. All in all, David looked much better.
No longer a rusted pile of robotic scrap but a rusted pile of good-looking robotic scrap! Rolling his shoulders as if waking up from a long nap, David decided to ask a few questions before leveling up and then opening his status.
“How do I look, Syllena?”
[Like a robot, David.]
“Like…a handsome robot?”
[Are you sure you want us to answer? We are unable to lie.]
“Alright, alright, tell me, can I upgrade my body to the [Rare Robotic Body ]? How could I do it?”
[No. You need to upgrade your [Basic Self-Modification] to a higher-level trait. And to upgrade [Basic Self-Modification], you need to get to level 10 and then unlock and complete your Class Quest.]
“Class Quest? Are there specific class quests? Players are gonna love this! Reminds me of an old MMORPG I played in fact. You could have every class and job on a single character! How do I unlock this quest? Just have to level up to ten?"
[Well, we do not yet know if players will truly have class quests, but you seem to have this feature.]
“Well, we’ll see, still have five years before the players all come. Let’s go back to leveling up.”
Seeing the simple thumbs up appear on Syllena’s interface as his only answer made David laugh a little bit. He looked around and saw a huge bronze pipe; it was big enough that even if a human could lift it, it would be too heavy as a weapon. David's new strength stat, on the other hand…
…
High above, on one of the bridges leading into the city of Kork, a young gnomish girl, wearing thick goggles with a broken glass on her forehead, and dressed in a mechanic's outfit slightly too big for her, was staring at the strange Advanced Scrapper-Bot that seemed to be smacking some other normal ones with a huge bronze pipe.
“Grandpa…what is that Scraper-Bot doing? Do you know what it’s saying?”
A much older gnome stepped behind her, looking out in the direction his daughter was pointing, watching the surprising sight of an Advanced Scrap-Bot beating up its lesser cousins as if they owed him money.
“Don’t worry, that’s most likely just a malfunction of its Energy Core or Threat Identification module. There’s a reason why those old models are down there. They have a very high strength stat and could be dangerous. Come on, now, let’s get you a new pair of goggles.”
“YEAH! Coming grandpa! I really wanted to see a Ravager today, though. They look so big and cool!”
“Now now, don’t pout, we’ll see one another day perhaps.”
The two gnomes slowly walked away from the bridge’s railing. Just a few minutes later, almost on the other side of what the gnomes called the Scrapyard, a pile of scraps suddenly disappeared in a gargantuan maw made of four bronze plates, filled with rows of electrified chainsaw blades going down the length of those plates.
It lasted no more than a second before the maw finished turning the whole pile into fine metallic dust. Disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.
I hope everyone is enjoying this chapter. If you spot any mistake do not hesitate to tell me in the comments. My main language isn't english so I'm more than eager to increase my level and better myself. Same for the System's current "appearance" do not hesitate if you dislike it and want something more simple and maybe easier to read!
Have a great day!