Chapter 96 - System Dreams

Yin made his bed before laying down, he had noticed that he did not do so after he had woken up yesterday.

He sighed.

After making the bed, he slithered in and finally closed his eyes back again after being woken up by Luken's voice.

Just as Yin Sohaya closed his eyes, he remembered the System and why it had not been giving him daily quests and objectives. He had also stopped leveling up at the 20th level.

"Hey, Creator, do you at least mind telling me what the hell is happening to the Thanatos System?"

Yin asked in his mind, for sure, the one he was pertaining the question towards would be able to hear it. The Creator lived in his head together with the System, after all.

The deep and articulate voice of the Creator responded.

"Why should I tell you that? You were just lucky to be compatible with the System, nothing more."

These particular set of words struck Yin the wrong way.

"Luck did not play a factor in it. I was chosen by the System for a reason. You of all people should know that considering you are the one who created whatever the System is."

Yin said firmly.

"Look at you, growing a pair in such a short amount of time, aren't you?" The Creator laughed. "If I am being honest with you, however, Yin. I do not know what drew the System to you. I really don't. But there is no use withholding the answer to your question to you now."

"Then tell me. Tell me everything about the Thanatos System, what it really is and why I was worthy of being chosen by it."

Yin demanded.

"Hold your horses, Yin Sohaya. I am not going to tell you everything about the System, where is the fun in that? For now, however, I would like to tell you the real answer as to why you cannot level up anymore…"

In his mind, Yin was still sitting on an empty lifeless place.

Filled with nothing but decayed flowers and a door that is not even half opened.

He is only able to see a fraction of the Creator who sat there.

The black silhouette of a man sat in front of a piano, playing an unknown melody that was emanating the feeling of sadness and longing for something.

Tears started to fall from Yin's eyes without him realizing it.

"W-Why do I feel like I have heard this melody long ago? As far as I remember, the only time I have been hearing this was when the System came to me."

Yin's body was now asleep in the real world, and he was transported to the System inside his dreams.

"That piano piece. Where have I heard that from?"

Yin asked directly to the Creator.

The Creator's dark silhouette was now grinning, revealing his teeth.

"Answer me! I do not know why I feel some kind of connection to whatever it is you are playing. It must be tied to the System somehow!"

The music stopped. The Creator's hands stopped playing. His fingers lifted upwards and he stood up from where he sat.

Yin saw this and he was on high alert.

He felt an evil sort of presence and aura coming from the Creator's very soul.

The dark shadowy silhouette peeked through the door's gap and grinned.

"Perhaps you just have a deep appreciation for the arts and soul of music?"

He asked.

Yin stood his ground and did not waiver nor let himself be intimidated.

"Just who in the hell are you, Creator?"

"In time, you will know. That question is not what I promised to answer, right?" The Creator responded as he went back to his chair and continued playing the harmonic song in the background. "I was only going to tell you about your 'level cap' and why you are not getting any more EXP points or any quest whatsoever."

Yin stood around impatiently.

"Can I go over there to your room?"

He asked.

"No. Absolutely not. You shall stay there. Once the time comes for you to see me in my entirety, I will tell you. Until then, observe and heed my words as I am hidden by the shadows of obscurity."

The Creator said. He cleared his throat afterwards.

With each note he pushed with his fingers, the music's intensity grew more and more.

"Yin, the System is not merely something that you use as though it is a tool. You have stopped leveling up because it is acclimating itself to your body."

"Acclimating itself to my what?!"

"As I have said before, whatever skills or abilities you use from the System, the stronger and faster it merges with you-"

The Creator got cut off by Yin who was now frantic.

"M-Merges?!"

"The Thanatos System, my dear Yin Sohaya, is a way to resurrect Thanatos. I will not explain to you who or what he is, just that that is how it will always be. The truth of why you are not able to level up and improve your physical stature and strength for every level is because the System is trying to fit itself within your very soul."

Yin was speechless, both because of the fact that he did not know what the Creator meant by the System 'merging' with him, and because of the implications it might have on him.

The Creator went on talking.

"I am not supposed to tell you this early, Yin. But I will. When you finish merging with Thanatos, and it will happen so when you reach the farthest level, which is 100, you will lose yourself."

Yin still had that frantic expression on his face.

"I would like you to elaborate more as to what the merging would mean for me. Please."

"Very well. What I meant by you losing yourself means exactly that. Your vessel will be used as a reincarnation of Thanatos. The System is what has given him the power to become reincarnated into a whole new compatible vessel. Simply, put, your powers, everything about it – the healing and regenerative capabilities, the inventory, the binding chains, the Nix Eyes, those all belong to him."

"S-So I am just being used as a tool of some sort in order to resurrect someone? Someone I do not even know?!"

"It does not matter if you know Thanatos or not! The fact is that you have been using his powers and have activated your Anima Cells as a result of borrowing it. Am I right or wrong?"

This was the first time that the Creator had ever lost his calm demeanor. Yin was surprised. His voice was thunderous and showed intensity that Yin had never experienced before.

But even Yin Sohaya knew deep down, that the ability to fight for mankind in the front lines of this holy war was because of the System itself. If it had not picked him as the inheritor of it, he would have died long ago in those farmlands right after the Angel annihilated Jon.

"You are right. But first things first, there is something I am very curious about. Just what is the criteria for being chosen by the System? Why me? Why did you choose a lowly farm boy who did not even have Anima cells? It would have been better to have someone else stronger for the System to merge with…"

Yin said as his confusion was still shaking him hard.

The Creator was speechless.

"Once again, that matters not."

He said.

"I at least deserve to have an answer. If I really am going to lose my very soul to Thanatos or whoever that is, at least tell me why the System saved me. I deserve it and you know it as well, Creator."

Yin pleaded to him.

The Creator still did not give in. 

It really did not sit well with Yin.

If he knew that his body was not going to be his own anymore after reaching level 100, Yin at least wanted to dig deep into why this intricate and complicated Thanatos System deemed him worthy all those months ago.

"Beg as you will and plead as hard as you do, I will have no words to answer that for you."

All this time while they were having the conversation right after the Creator sat up, he was still playing on the piano.

Each note was masterfully sounding, it was the performance of a true master pianist.

"Do you want my advice, Yin?"

The white haired Slayer nodded.

"This is the only time you will ever get to contribute to mankind. That kind of power that the System has given you is not something that should be taken lightly. Think about it, you have a unique affinity, your black lightning. You have multiple spells and skills from the System's blessing. What more could you ask for? You are helping mankind on borrowed time and capabilities."

The Creator said to him.