Chapter 24 New Receptacle

I needed a new Receptacle. Now I had it. Feeling an oppressing mass on my whole body, I woke up. I tried to get rid of the overwhelming load I had on top of me, pinning me down. Rashly straightening my upper body was no solution, the mass was too heavy. Still, I had to move. So getting myself out of here wasn't an option. If I couldn't push it from beneath it, I'd just sweep it aside.

Moaning and wiggling with great effort the best I could under that pressure, I could work my way out of this. And finally, "Haaah!" I could breathe and get myself a lungful of fresh air just fine. And the mass pressuring me, when I saw it— "Ah? Was that supposed to be the former Receptacle? Tiny Bro, if I recall correctly?"

It was true I remembered just sort of leaving it here after using the Dwelling skill on that elven girl.

❮ The Player has successfully evolved to the race 'Demonic Unclassified'. ❯

The corpse was a hell of a heavy load, to be quite honest. I was more thinking about some huge boulder falling off a cliff that landed right on my chest, pinning me down effortlessly. Seeing Tiny Bro, all burned and dead, in front of me was a surprise. What struck me as an even bigger surprise was about the time. Coming from the window of my room, the sun was coming up, already. "Ah!? And how come it's morning already?! I need to hurry down…! But first… Gimme a break. Why do I have to deal with all of this?"

'Hurry down,' I said. Hurry downstairs to what? To where? To work? To the kind ma'am? Evidently, I needed some time to think things through now that my life was yet again disrupted by totally uncalled-for events.

❮ First Quest: Character's Creation is available. You have met the requirements. 'Evolver' Condition has been met. 'Demonic Race' has been met. ❯

The System, it kind of was my guide, went on: The Player, it said, has met the requirements for the first quest to be obtained, therefore, it will be obtained. It was a compulsory quest. I had to do it. What was a quest again, however? Was it like with adventurers? And the Guild? Man, let that robotic voice just shut up for once.

No, it didn't shut up.

The quest was called Character's Creation, and like any quest, it had a little detail about it. ❮ In order to start and participate in the Game, the Player first has to create his Character. Due to the Player's nature as a non-humanoid race of being—the System here stated that, despite the precedent Cute Jellyfish name of a race I had on my first day, the System was now unable to properly estimate or quantify my race, and therefore just went with Demonic Unclassified. I was just too unique a monster—Due to the Player's nature as a non-humanoid race of being, the Player first has to be granted a humanoid form. ❯ And said humanoid form was what was referred to as Character. ❮ Follow the Instructions to complete the quest. ❯

"I told you to shut up for now," I waved off the blue AR displays of writings and let them disappear. I had to do some breathing exercises now. Maybe. Deeply inhaling, I exhaled slowly. I repeated that twice. "It's all good, isn't it?" I reasoned. "I've just changed bodies. There'll be consequences to that, but nothing too drastic. Maybe I can stir things back to where they were headed. Yeah, sure I can."

Though, the consequences, I didn't ask for them. So I just wished to say NO right now. Yes, full caps. NO. And that kind of no is one hell of a refusal if you want my opinion. Despite all this… I'm cool. I truly am. Just am an elf, now. Oh, and a female at that. Crap. I have breasts. They're rather tiny, the girl is flat, but they're here. That's interesting. I liked being a male better, though. I want to be a boy again. Guess I'll just have to switch Receptacles later on. Or wait, if I do create my "Character," as the System says, I won't even need a Receptacle anymore, will I? When I'll get to create my Character, by the way, will I be able to choose that kind of detail? Breasts, I mean. If it's creating, then I suppose so.

"Humph. Whatever." Lying back down on my bed, I sighed. That only served to demotivate me more. Inwardly cursing, I came back up to a sitting position. Okay, I thought, I have a lot of things to deal with right now, so let's just get down to work, and I'll see what happens next. First things first, there was a dead person on my bed. I shouldn't just leave it here, should I? To be fair though, it didn't look one bit like a corpse. I mean, sure, it had a human form to it, but well, it was so burned and black that it didn't resemble the real thing much. If anything, that may become a statue of art. Shall I sell it? Bring it to the commercial alley, and see it off in exchange for some money? And maybe with the money, I can pay off the guards so that they open the gates for me. With that, I'd be gone, and I would finally get to go home, where people would accept and like me. No. That can't go for sale.

Touching it with hesitant fingers, I asserted it really had been burned to a crisp. And I mean, was that supposed to be the consequence of being overloaded in mana and energy? Man, I hope that never happens again. The pretty girl I'm in, at present, I wouldn't want to turn her… into charcoal. And by definition anyway, this Receptacle girl should be rather tough, if she could qualify as a Receptacle. At any rate, I'm happy I left that burned thing.

Hopping off the bed, I stood up. That body sure felt different. It was lighter and better. Having stood up, I considered my options. I needed to get that thing out of my room. Though it hadn't been my room in the first place, now it definitely was. There was a window. It wasn't too large, but… Squinting my eyes at the corpse I had on my hands, I nodded. Tiptoeing at the window, I managed to get a glimpse of what kind of street it opened to.

I asserted it would be safe just tossing it there. Maybe. Needless to say, I wasn't thinking things through in a proper way at all. Still, I tasked myself with dealing with my own problems, unlike that elven girl who refused to even fight me and tried to move it out. Try as I might, however, I couldn't get the thing up off the ground at all. Jeez. The plan had already failed. That exercise left my shoulders heaving for breath.

Wiping the sweat off my forehead, I sat back on the bed and thought some more again. "Just go on with the flow, man. Who cares if it's still in the room? What if it's in the room, but in the bed, too, hmm? It'll be safe and hidden. Yeah. Let's just do that." Even shoving it under the bed was a painful exercise to pull. I knew it was a stupid idea to just leave it here, but I reckoned that "stupid" was often times a synonym for fun. With that kind of stupid, fun logic, I got rid of a burden easily.

Now, the other problem I had to deal with: The System. The Guide. The annoying metallic voice. The blue writings. The AR displays. The thing nobody else seemed to have. What did it want with me?

Once again now, I'd call in the terrific power of my newly obtained skill 'I Deal With Problems Like a Genius' that not even the System knew of. Thanks to the skill, I dealt with problems: "Do your, uh… do your thing, System!"

What was it spouting nonsense about? I wanted to know. But in order for me to know, I needed some more interactions with the thing. Asking it to do its 'thing' didn't do anything, however. Persuaded I still had to have some control over it, as it wouldn't make sense for it to be mine otherwise, my eyes turned to a slit, and I thought up as many words to call onto it as possible. I tried lots of different word combinations in order to make it appear.

System-chan, come and rescue me!

That didn't do it.

Mr. System, please, would you be so kind as to show me the way?

Neither did that.

Just… notify me, goddamn it! And that was just the same. I said a lot, up till I found a keyword that worked on it. To the word "Quest," it responded.

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...Ring!