Tale of Discovery

Chapter 16: Solace ; System

I find myself unable to take another step as I continue to stare at Ayumi's face. Tears start to appear at the corner of her eyes, and seconds later, gently flow down her rosy cheeks.

She jumps at me and embraces me tightly despite my appearance. She begins to weep while tightening her grip on me. After a few moments, she asks me in the most heart wrenching way ever,

"Brother Yu, you're not going to die, right? Please don't die! Don't leave Ayu alone."

Overwhelmed, I immediately hug her back and attempt to soothe her in the most comforting I can,

"Of course not. I will never leave you alone. Don't cry. I'm okay, look at me."

She slowly raises her hand and looks into my eyes. Her nose is red and her eyes are swollen. I gently wipe the tears off her face and kiss her forehead. Suddenly, she says,

"Yes. We should call the cops and catch the people who did this to you. No! We need to go to the hospital right now!"

Earlier I hadn't felt the slightest amount of emotions when killing the men. Yet, now, I feel my eyes forming tears due to the fact that Ayumi doesn't even suspect me of being a murderer. Guilt builds up within me as I lower myself and kiss her cheek, saying,

"They've already been caught. The police told me to keep this incident a secret and I should never mention it to anyone, or else companions of the men who did this will cause us trouble."

She lightly nods to my words, taking them seriously. She then says with a little hint of her usual cheerfulness returning to her voice,

"We should still go to the hospital! You are injured. Brother Yu, come on, let's go!"

She grabs my hand and attempts to drag me out of the apartment. I slightly shake my head at her naivety and say as I point at myself,

"We can't. Not while I look like this. Also, we are supposed to keep the incident a secret, no? So we should try to avoid the outside for a few days."

Everything should be way calmer by then. I don't think that whoever it is that is targeting us would attack anytime soon. I then try to get rid of the last of Ayumi's worries by telling her,

"Besides, you don't need to worry about me. The wounds I have are only on the surface, that's why there is so much blood. Once I clean it up and wrap a bandage around it, I should be fine."

Ayumi sighs in relief once I've told her that. I can see that her emotions are still unstable. I've got to find some way to distract her thoughts... but how? Oh.

"What's for dinner tonight?" I ask her with a smile evident on my face.

This seems to work, as her expression changes from a neutral-like one to that of deliberation. She exclaims in a cheerful tone almost comparable to before,

"Tonight I will be making your favorite- Omurice! So Brother Yu will feel better!"

She heads to the kitchen, while I go to my room. I shut the door behind me, and begin taking off my bloodied clothes.

Once everything is off, I take a good look at the spot the bullet had hit me at. The view is anything but nice. The dried blood that looks like a stream flowing down my leg doesn't make it any better.

This is going to be a mess to deal with.

"There is a simple way to get you healed.", resounds the lovely voice of my guardian angel within my mind once again.

"How?" I simply ask

"You have the Holy Essence. Use it. Light Healing should be a factor of your power. In order to use it, you need to press your palm on the wound and focus on the energy around the wound. Then, you need to guide said energy and catalyze it using your Holy Essence."

"What do I do with the bullet inside my thigh?" I inquire.

"To get a foreign piece of metal within your body out, your current methods are limited yet effective. In order to do that you need to use Light Transmutation on your thigh, temporarily turning it into light particles. In order to do this, you need to have physical contact and focus extra carefully, lest you want to inadvertently wipe your thigh out of actuality."

I circulate my Holy Essence and place my palm on the wound. I focus so hard on the energy within my palm, that my brain starts to sting. I then utilize Transmutation. I then feel like my energy is being drained at a dreadful rate. The bullet falls on the ground and rolls away. I immediately stop using Transmutation.

So much energy was required for a few seconds of using that Effect. I try to check how much energy I have left, but can't seem to get a good grasp on the approximate amount. This is very impractical.

"Juno, is there a way for me to view how much Essence energy I have left?"

Suddenly, a peal of bell-like laughter resounds within my head. Then, I hear Juno's voice in my head, stating with a hint of amusement apparent,

"I thought it was about time you had asked. Seriously, you never change, do you? I will try to say this in a way that doesn't confuse you. The 'old' you had created something out of pure boredom. He created something to allow people to view their power level in their corresponding Platform."

"He decided to name it 'System'. In the beginning, only people with the Code: Systemization were able to utilize it fully, but that changed when the Rift began to form. Other principal quintessences took an interest in the System and yearned to use it in their own Platforms."

"An agreement was made which came to be known as the Rule of Reincarnation. The RoR stated that people with unfortunate pasts are to be sent to other Platforms upon death, through a section known as the Vacant Void."

"The principal quintessences came up with several ways to allow beings to 'reincarnate'. The principal quintessences of creation and time made a lot of contributions in this part. The most commonly replicated ones are: Stabbed to death, gods accidentally dropping lightning, summoning circle, interdimensional door, servers not shutting down in due time, and several others."

"For the record, the most common one is done by a principal quintessence itself. The Truck. Effective and practical."

"After all was said and done. The System took many forms depending on the user and the Platform they appear in. Most of the time, the Platform they arrive in would be a direct derivation of Platform: '04 - fantasy - magic - medieval - obligatory adventurer's guild' or Platform: '06 - cultivation - country toppling beauty with jade-like skin - dog eat dog world - obligatory young masters'."

"That pretty much sums up what your boredom let to."

The fuck? That was one hell of a long story. The events that followed what "I" did were just ridiculous. At least, it seems like the world they end up in makes up for their unfortunate past. Or so I thought before Juno stated,

"I need to mention the fact that some individuals didn't end up in the best circumstances. There is this guy that was sent to another Platform by the principal quintessence of Tractor. He was supposed to fight against the greatest threat in said Platform known as the 'Demon Lord', but ended up fighting against poverty."

That's sad as heck. How unfortunate.

"There is also this guy who had to watch the girl he coveted and the people around him die several times over. His own 'death' was no means of escape, as it would just make earlier events occur once again."

I take my earlier statement back. Struggling financially is way better than seeing the people you care about die repeatedly.

"Now that we are done, I need you to intone - Codification."

Finally. About time. Let's do this,

"Codification"

The next moment, words start appearing from one corner of my vision to the other. I shut my eyes, in order to be able to see it more properly,

"Use your thoughts to navigate.", Juno instructs me.

Let's see what's written...