3 – Hollow System
3 – Hollow System
[...Initialising]
[Status: Dying/Hollowfication In Progress]
[Action: Prevent Hollowfication]
[...Error...Failure...]
[Second Attempt]
[Failure]
[Third Attempt]
[Failure]
[Action abandoned]
[Action: Preserving consciousness]
[Success]
[Consciousness fortified]
[Consciousness anchored]
[Hollow System Initialised]
[Consciousness unable to handle hollowfication]
[Consciousness entering forced hibernation]
'What?!?' those were Hisashi's last thoughts before his consciousness was swallowed up by an endless abyss.
He couldn't feel anything.
He had no pulse, no breath, no heartbeat.
There wasn't any sound.
There was nothing to see just endless darkness.
He didn't even feel like he had a body.
'Where am I?'
'Who am I?'
'What am I?'
He could only continue to question himself and his situation for what seemed forever, the only reprieve was sleep and he did a lot of it.
After who knows how long he started feeling some kind of headache. Normally he would be annoyed, but this was the first thing he had felt for as long as he could remember and anything was better than the void of all things that had been his existence.
Suddenly he heard something.
'That's new.' he though.
[Action: Integrating consciousness]
Suddenly the headache got much worse, but at the same time his mind started clearing up from the fog it had been in.
[Consciousness integrated]
[Action: Building spirit body]
A burning sensation started in his body.
'Wait body?' he thought to himself.
He couldn't quite describe it, but it felt he was growing somehow. Not like anything else made sense.
[Spirit body successfully established]
[Action: Stimulating memories]
'That's right! I'm Saito Hisashi!' he could finally remember who he was and also how he dead. A second time.
'Nooo! What about my plans? My future, everything was perfect! What about my operating system? It was almost done!' he screamed in his mind unwilling to accept that all his plans and effort for 16 years had been completely wasted due to one unfortunate event. He was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time...again.
'Wait why am I still conscious? Didn't I get hollowfied?' he wondered.
[Answer: Hollow System preserved host's consciousness despite hollowfication]
'So what happened?' he asked.
[Answer: System slowed the hollowfication process and forced host's consciousness into hibernation to allow for integration between the changing body and consciousness without losing the host's self]
'So you're saying I still became a hollow?' he continued.
[Answer: Correct]
'Can I still become a Shinigami instead?' he asked desperately.
[Answer: Implausible]
'What about a Visored?' he was grasping at straws now.
[Answer: Implausible]
'So I'm stuck as a hollow...' he sighed.
[Answer: Correct]
'That wasn't a question.' he responded slightly snarky.
[...]
He slowly opens his eyes and sees he still seems to be in the same park he was in before, but upon closer inspection there are quite some changes. Some things are gone and others are new while the things that are still there look more worn out.
'How long was I in hibernation to be exact?'
[Answer: Host was in hibernation for 10 years]
'10 years?!?!' he practically yelled at the system.
[Answer: Preserving the human consciousness during hollowfication is near impossible, they are incompatible to an extreme degree. The only way to achieve an exception was through slowing the process of hollowfication significantly as system manually guided the process and integrated the hosts consciousness. This prolonged the process to 10 years]
'Then what about my parents? What about my sister?' he asked.
[Answer: Unknown]
He sighed again, there wasn't much he could do about it now. He looked down a bit and he seemed to be much taller than he remembered. Closer to 10 feet tall it seemed. Also when he looked at his arms his forearms looked like a cross between a sword and stag beetle's pincers. Also he had 4 legs now.
'That's going to take some getting used to.' he though to himself trying to stay positive about the definite clear proof that he wasn't human or even anything close to resembling human anymore.
'If I remember correctly there was a pond in this park.' he thinks heading over to try taking a look at himself in the reflection. What he sees isn't quite as surprising anymore. He looks like a giant beetle that took steroids with a white hollow mask somewhat reminiscent of a rhinoceros beetle head and the stag beetle pincer like arm blades. Most of his carapace was black except the arm blades and the wing covers which were iridescent black green and blue making them quite beautiful in a macabre way.
'Oh I have wings now. I couldn't even be a bipedal hollow' he could almost cry with how far he was from anything not completely monstrous.
'So much for being handsome, though I guess my carapace has a kind of beauty to it. Argh I'm already being corrupted by these horrible aesthetics.' he wallowed in his misery slapping at the water in anger which caused quite the splash. Is it even a slap if you don't have a hand? Thankfully no one was around to pay attention to a huge splash coming out of seemingly nowhere.
'Well, what now?' he thought to himself.
[Mission: Devour 100 animal spirits]
[Reward: Skill - Soul-Body Separation]
'Well that's a little morbid to say the least. I guess it's better than not having it though. What is this about missions and skills though?' he wondered.
[Answer: System includes mission sub-system that provides tasks to guide host and can provide a variety of rewards including skills]
'If missions and skills are a thing, what about stats and status.' he asked eagerly wondering if his moment had finally come.
[Answer: Correct, the system does include such sub-systems allowing growth through completing missions, consuming spiritual energy or souls]
'Wait. Stats. Status... Status Panel.' he said rapidly.
[Status Panel]
[Name: Saito Hisashi]
[Soul Age: 49]
[Race: Hollow]
[Rank: Hollow]
[Level: 1]
[Exp: 0/10]
[Stats:]
[Strength: 5]
[Dexterity: 2]
[Constitution: 10]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Spirit Power: 15]
[Available Stat Points: 5]
[Passive Skills:]
[Spiritual Energy Absorption]
[High-Speed Regeneration]
[Acidic Touch]
[Active Skills:]
[N/A]
'Wow I got old fast. Wait those 10 years don't count! Change it to 39.' he thought.
[Answer: Negative]