Chapter 129 - 129. System Upgrade And My Actual Life Story

I went back to the real world after I logged off from the Realm of Mind and I sat at the courtyard while having a clove cigarette in one hand and black sweeneted coffee in the other. Prius saw me looking all confused and he approached me as he too smoked his own brand of cigarettes.

"What's up my brother in law... You looked kind of troubled. Is your wisps giving you a problem or are you thinking about the business that is being ceased at this moment until every town has a deployment of soldiers from Aermagh?"

"Not really Prius... Haish... I was thinking of my system upgrade. I get to keep my allocated points. I also gain an additional attribute as well. The only thing is that I would be having is a higher demand for materials and I don't think I would be able to do it based on one profession only."

Prius looked at me and discovered I had quite a number of professions and skills. While skills are acquired without any additional points, the profession that I had needs a lot of input as well.

"Don't you worry, my brother in law. What you need to do is trust your system and yourself. It's not good to keep your attributes exposed in this manner because everyone would know your professions as well as your allocation points."

"Furthermore having an equal system like the rest would be fair and furthermore you could hide your stats from peering eyes. Don't you think so, brother?"

"I guess so... Well... Trish would be back soon and so does the children and the members soon. I had been grinding to Level up and it seems the progress is very slow indeed. Furthermore if I wear our Macleod's Lucky Badge, my progress would be at 2.6%. The only thing is that everyone's level is at 1000 while mine is at 1,000,000."

"Are you sure? Let me check my database. Normally a person to attain a 1 million cap for their levels are considered as a Master already. It would be an Elite Master at 10 million and 100 million for a Grand Master."

"Hoo... Hoo... Hoo... You are a Master once you upgraded system. You've indeed come a long way, brother. To achieve a Master level is not easy because only certain people with certain capabilities could open up these levels. The rest are capped at only a 1000...but you... Tsk tsk tsk... Unbelievable."

"Well Prius... I don't think Christmas is around the corner yet. And furthermore please keep it within the household. And I think I would be getting the system upgrade tonight."

*Ding* Good idea, host. You won't regret it. Initialisation and Upgrade would take between 2 to 6 hours.

"Thanks, Ceres. I greatly appreciate it." I thought inwardly as I noticed the seniors were marching in followed by Patricia and I noticed that our children had reached level 5, the seniors had also reached Level 3 while Patricia herself had gained to Level 4. I handed 100 allocation points each to everyone and our children realises that they have to depend on themselves to upgrade as well.

*Ding* Castle Keating-Macleod has now reached #1 position in members ranking.

"Well guys... We have reached #1 in House standings for achieving the top level of members. We had also reached #1 on House's reputation, wealth and management too. Right now, there's going to be a race for the rest to catch up already."

Supper was served before our 2 cooks left for the night and everyone chomped down on their pork chops with potato wedges, carrot sticks, cucumber, tomato and coleslaw. I had my share and I informed Patricia that my system would be upgraded tonight.

"Good for you honey... Your system is terribly outdated. Once you had upgraded, you will feel like you're reborn." Patricia said as she hugged on to my arm. As usual, that night I bought all the beef and mutton as well as some chicken and ducks from our children and the rest of the members.

"Daddy... Do you have anything to share with us like a battle strategy?" Ingles spoke up for the rest of the members. By the looks of her she reminded me of Alleicea and Aventina, the two orphans we had discovered way back when we made our last stop at Camp Salvation in the past series.

"Actually I do have a simple battle strategy plan... One is to kite and the other is to tank and then take two squad to flank and create a pincer attack. Its the most basic form of battle strategy and it works everytime."

"I will draw it out for you the battle plan, it is great for you to practise on the goblins, elven, imps, Orcs and the undead. Other than that it's a basic formation of tanking and protecting the rear."

"Tomorrow then, it's time to wash up and get ready for another day tomorrow. Let me know when you had done all your Quests because I have another 15 more to go from the Southern District."

"Wow...once we complete all the quests, we would be rewarded right Daddy? I heard the prize is 50k credits per person." Kayla asked and I knew for sure she would empty her wooden chest upstairs in the room and fill it up with snack and other candies.

"Yup... 50k from the organiser and 25k from the Castle of Keating-Macleod." I replied as everyone was delighted as they bounded off to their respective rooms to wash up and get ready for bed.

....

"Honey, are you going to upgrade your system in you sleep?" Patricia asked as she herself had gone under the covers.

"Yes, dear... It says it would be between 2 to 6 hours. I should be awake by 5 am tomorrow to prepare another batch of menu. Let's discuss about Beauty World tomorrow then."

I said as I dimmed the lights and went under the covers too and we playfully tickled ourselves silly and laughed until our bed became our little battleground. After an hour or two, when everything had settled down, I laid on the bed and closed m eyes as I called upon Ceres to begin the upgrade and reboot.

*Ding* System Upgrade initialising. Initiation in 5...4...3...2...1...System reboot.

By the time I heard the word reboot, I find myself spinning out of control into an bottomless abyssa like a sinkhole and when I finally came to. I was somehow back in the future but my previous past.

It was like watching myself grew up on a family that I had known before, my dad's a fireman with Central Fire Station after he was promoted and transfered from the Airport Division and my mother, as always busy in the kitchen preparing simple meals for the large family of 8 and my 3 cats.

I saw myself entering the house and my mother warned me to shut up because I saw my little self sniffing the air, as my mum had prepared a Fermented tapioca snack and hidden it somewhere to properly fermented it. By the looks of it, I think I'm just 10 years old that time. Singapore, Toa Payoh.1982. (NonFic)

Next the scene changed and I saw myself in desert camouflage uniform and was calling out to someone, "Fire at anything that moves". Shit...!!! That's Kuwait, in Operation Desert Shield. I disobeyed a direct order to stay put in camp and rushed off with my trusted M16S1 with 8x ACOG scope and rode my recon bike to reach the UN forces that were bottle necked and was hit by multiple RPG. Operation Nightingale, Kuwait 1991. (NonFic)

The scene changed and I saw my mother in the hospital bed and by looking at it, I knew it was her last few days because she fell into a coma and slipped away. I saw myself in a camouflage uniform once again and this time with a lady by my side.

"Go home, I know you're tired. You can come back tomorrow." that was my mother's last words since she knew I rushed from camp just to visit her. I saw myself staying there until the visiting hours are over. I wish I could physically tell her that I'm gratified that I was born into this world. Without her, my world would slowly crumble and it would be in ruins.

"Stay back... Don't go...!!!" I called out to my old me as both the old me and the lady walked away and closed the door after the old me had taken a last glance at my mother and waved goodnight to her. Changi General Hospital. Singapore. 1998.(NonFic)

"Hey, Singaporean... Rappel down now..." I saw myself peering down the sides of a Huey Helicopter as I hooked my carabiner and stood on the skid and lowered myself down and jumped when I neared the ground. I unhook the cargo line underneath the heli and called the other crew members for help. Philippines, 2006. PNF against the Mindanao insurgency. (NonFic)

"The end of a beginning and the beginning of the end. If you do not pick yourself up now, when would the time be? Recividism is a cycle, join the circle and break the cycle." I saw myself performing a confrontational speech with a group of mandated offenders in a tight prison setting. I was a psychologist back then. Singapore Changi Prison. 2013 (NonFic)

"Brother, you finally getting married eh? End your bachelor life at the age of 41 finally...Haha...congratulations." a group of mandated offenders came and shook hands with me when I got married that day and realised that my career as a psychologist ended within a month of me getting married. Singapore. Feb 2014. (NonFic)

*BEEP BEEP BEEEEPPPP*

*SSSSCCCCEEEEEEEECCCCHHHH*

*BBBBAAAAMMMM*

Of all a sudden there was no pain only a dull throbbing feeling. I think I'm dead... No, I can't be dead. I've for to go to work and hand up my casefile for my closure. No, this doesn't feel right... I can't move my arms and legs... Why the sudden thick smell of rusty metal all around me. Sticky, warm oozy feeling... Errr... I can't see anything... Everything black and red. The voices around me seems muffled. Why do I have a feeling that I'm lying down on the ground? Where's my motorbike? I can't breathe... I'm losing it... God... I'm dying...!!! Feb 22nd 2017 (NonFic)

(start of fic)

Then the scenes seems to flash by like a broken projector, whirring and distorted pictures and scenes of the beach, and an old village near the sea, the meeting of an old man, the awakening of my third eye and the first introduction to the Realm of Mind.

Then it changed to a Japanese Town, and after some blurry pics it went on to another part of Japanese Town where I was both a student of different identities and age. The scene sped up and it showed me in Thailand with a girl whom I had just known walking around the beach with a bottle of Singha beer in hand.

The scene changed to medieval Japan where I saw myself as an 11-year-old kid with a group of samurai. A few whirring scenes later it slowed and showed me running away, into the forest as I held on to a blanket to cover my face. I carried a bow with some arrows and somehow I might have done a grievous deed as I sensed people chasing me down.

The scene stopped and whirred forward and came to a scene where there was a huge explosion in midair. Then a deafening silence as if the air was sucked up in a vacuum and it was hard to breathe. Choking.

The blinding flash of brilliant white light. Envelopes everything. Standstill. Everything is devoid of Life. A sense of scorching heat that shrivelled everything up.

I then transmigrated into a body of a nearly lifeless warrior before he crossed over to the other side. And then darkness. For a very long time.

*Ding* System Upgrade Complete. Initialising system stabilisers and life support system. System online. Welcome back, Host. Wakeup sleepy head.

Suddenly I sense an electrifying sensation on my toes and my fingers and I was shaking them off as if I felt a cockroach crawling up my feet and hands. Then I felt something warm with my hands and I instinctively gave it a soft squeeze.

"Hmm... Honey, that's my butt cheeks... Do you want another round of golden pillows?" a lady's voice purred beside me as she cuddled up close to me.