Chapter 8: Body Switch

Ning felt bored. He didn't emulate boredom, he really felt bored. He had been waiting around in the rock for a few days now. The thunderstorm had come and gone by once more, while most of the other days were just cloudy. So, even the Energy he gained wasn't a lot.

Every single day, he would wake up at sunrise, hoping this day would be the one where he unlocked his next skill.

'Status' he opened his status page to see how far he was from the next unlock.

[Status

Energy: 126,524

Task: Collect 73,476 more energy

Reward: You gain Body Switch

Shop: LOCKED

]

According to the system, his next unlock was a skill that allowed him to change bodies. Which meant, he could leave this god-forsaken ocean.

He had come to realize soon enough that this wasn't even a good part of the ocean. The part he was on was elevated from the rest of the ocean, so he couldn't even see anything down below. Just 10 meters deep, and he would reach the sand.

That was just sad. He felt sad. He also felt angry that he felt sad. 'Why do I have to get emotions system? Can't you remove them? I was doing so well before. Now all I do is feel bored and sad, and then get angry about it.' He truly hated the fact that he had unlocked emotions.

The moment he had unlocked the emotions, he had started to feel incredibly sad and even cried internally at the fact that he had died. He only then realized how fake the emotions he was emulating really were.

He was sad that he had done nothing with his previous life. From an early age, he was left out of everything. His parents had died tragically and left him alone, the friends he barely made in the orphanage left him to get adopted with their new parents, and even life itself had left him now.

Since then, he had started to hate the emotions he had unlocked. 'Tell me system, do I really need these emotions?' he asked.

<Yes>

<There have been many records of hosts, who didn't have emotions, going on to use the system to do terrible things to the universe they lived in>

<Giving emotions is a way of making the user empathetic so that they don't bring unnecessary harm to others>

<The system was created so that the hosts can live a carefree life, not destroy other life in the process>

<So, Hosts are forced to have emotions now, and the emotions are also amplified a bit>

'Is that why I felt so incredibly sad even when I had already come to terms with the fact that I died?' he asked the question, but the system didn't answer. The system had no way of telling exactly how sad he was feeling.

'Okay,' he accepted the answer, and along with it, accepted the emotions.

Finally, the day after, another thunderstorm arrived bringing along another hailstorm. Ning was incredibly happy. He could tell he had never been this happy before. Even his happiness towards getting the energy had been amplified.

The hails were a bit smaller this time, so every hit only brought about 100 energy each. It would take a lot of time for him to gather 70,000 energy this way.

'Guess, I'm not getting the body switch skill today. Hopefully, its starts getting sunny again soon.' Just as he thought that he happened to look up at the sky and saw something flash.

BOOM

A bolt of massive lightning appeared out of nowhere, hitting the rock he inhabited. It left about a 40 centimeters wide hole, and along with that quite a few notifications.

<You have lost 8624 Energy>

<You have gained 234,284 Energy>

<You have unlocked Body Switch>

'Holy S**t, That scared me. What was that? A lightning strike?' he could feel the extremely hot hole the lightning had left on the rock's surface. He looked back at the notifications and realized he had reached his goal.

'Body Switch? Wait… I did it? YES!!! Haha, it's here. I did it,' he exclaimed as he became the happiest he had ever been since coming here.

'HAHA!! More, Hit me more' he shouted internally at the storm. But, another lightning never came towards him.

'Oh. Right, I forgot lightning doesn't hit something twice. I got unnecessarily happy.' He got a little sad again. His emotions were very fickle right now and changed as fast as a chameleon changing its color.

He waited until the thunderstorm was over. By now, he had gained about 20,000 Energy from the hails alone. 'Status' he checked what his next goal was.

[Status

Energy: 391,542

Task: Collect 108,458 more energy

Reward: You gain Sounds

Shop: LOCKED

]

'Sounds? What do sounds mean, system? I can already hear things though. That was the first thing I unlocked.'

<You will know when it unlocks>

'Why are you being so vague?' the system didn't answer, so he changed his question, 'Alright then, let's switch bodies. How do I do that?'

<Please choose a non-living object you would like to change bodies with>

'Non-living? Umm… how about a roof? They get a lot of sunlight, right? Oh, no-no, Wait, can you switch my bodies with one of those cultivator's clothes? I want to see them use their abilities and fly around and stuff.'

<You can only switch with objects your current body is in contact with>

'My current body? But the rock is in the middle of nowhere. The only thing in contact with it is the ocean water. And I thought you said water was a bad body, didn't you?' he was starting to feel angry.

<Solid objects make for the best bodies. Liquids and gas can be easily separated, so you have a much higher chance of losing energy>

'Then, that means I can't switch bodies with anything right now? F**k!! I was getting excited about nothing.'

He had been so excited to know that he could finally switch his bodies and go somewhere else. However, after learning that he could only do so with objects he was in contact with, his disappointment was immeasurable and his day was ruined.