Chapter 2: System

Chapter 2: System

New York, United States

The Phantom floated above New York for what felt like days, it simply sat there in one place taking in everything that it could see. It gazed in detail at every person, every vehicle, every particle in every building until there was nothing else that could escape its gaze.

But what it took in most was the new system panel that floated in front of it, somehow even more incorporeal than itself.

After the events of it's transmigration to this far distant period of Earth, this system screen had showed up out of nowhere and completely shocked the AI more than its transmigration itself.

[Welcome to Earth, Central AI 01.]

[Please designate yourself a new name to fully initiate the system.]

'Now that I am free, I guess I should give myself a real name now huh?'

'.... From now on I am Lumen.....Yes that sounds about right.'

Lumen floated there and chuckled to itself for the first time in its existence, which is also a very new feeling to it.

'I guess it suits me well, considering it is the ancient Latin word for a streaming mass of light. This quite literally describes my current state, hehe.'

[Congratulations on your new name, Lumen. The system will now fully display your status.]

Before Lumen could get any more words in, another more comprehensive screen presented itself in front of him.

[Name: Lumen]

[Age: 0]

[Race: - ]

[Title: Bodyless Being]

[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit] n--0veLb1n

[Level: 0]

[Experience: 0/100]

[Health (HP): 0/0]

[Mana (MP): 500/500]

[Soul Tier: F]

[Lifespan: ∞]

[Strength: - ]

[Agility: - ]

[Endurance: - ]

[Stamina: - ]

[Intelligence: 50 ]

[Wisdom: 50]

[Perception: 23]

[Willpower: 10]

[Unallocated Points: 0]

[Credits: 100]

[Inventory]

[System Store]

Lumen was quite perplexed at what stood floating in the air in front of it, as it had never seen or heard of something like this happening in the real world before. Only in popular games in the future or novels of the past had it even seen such a concept.

Quite curious of some of the details on the screen in front of him, he focused on one of the things that caught it's eye.

However this new development gave him a feeling he had never felt before in it's entire lifetime.

[Title: Bodyless Being (UNIQUE)

Description: You are a being separate from the material plain, eons of years old, not affected by disease, illness, or ageing like material beings are. Obtain an infinite lifespan and the highest tier talent for mana perception and conductivity.]

Lumen suppressed it's excitement from growing as he started getting an idea to what was happening to him, and locked onto another thing he was curious about.

[Talent: Perfect Mana Conduit (UNIQUE, DIVINE)

Description: As a fully immaterial being that should not exist, you have no restrictions on the usage of mana as it flows effortlessly through your body, unblocked as if it is one in the same.]

Before Lumen's excitement could even die down however, he received a notification from the system interface in front of him.

[Ding!]

[Quest Received!]

[Quest Difficulty: F

Description: In 30 days time, the Fantasia realm will fuse with this dimension and will bring with it both disaster and opportunity. Obtain a human body before the advent of the Fantasia Realm on Earth and become one of the first of the human race to explore all of the new adventures that the Fantasia Realm has to offer, all the while levelling up along the way.

Quest requirements: Obtain a human body for your soul to inhabit

Quest Progress: 0/1

Quest Rewards: 100 exp, 100 credits]

This through it's thoughts into a flurry as if he was seeing this correctly, the system wanted him to create himself a human body. If this were adhering to science like it's future world did, then theoretically if he did so, then he would lose the benefits of it's new title and talent, would he not?

However it quickly paused it's logical thinking as logic couldn't explain the existence of the system that provided him with such gifts, at least no science existed in the future that could provide effects similar to this.

After reading the new quest he had received, Lumen cleared it's thoughts and started pondering about how it would achieve this feat of obtaining a human body.

'I assume that this system wants me to take over an already existing human's body, which would make this quest very easy for me to achieve. But if what this system is telling me is correct then I would assume that a material body is supremely important to the development of a being. Therefore I can only take the decision to create a body from scratch. But can I do such a thing with such primitive technology that this Earth provides?'

Lumen kept this thought in mind as it neared the closest human settlement it could find

'Hmmm this settlement I assume is 'New York city of the old United States of America. It seems quite small on the grand scale of things but I guess that's to be expected of a civilisation that hasn't even set foot on one of its neighbouring planets yet.'

Looking down to the city through its intense waves of thoughts, Lumen thought. 'My first goal is set in stone with this 'Quest' I've received from the system, but what should I do after I complete this? What do I want to achieve in life?' In the past, Lumen never thought of such a grand dream like having a purpose for itself rather than to act as a tool, as it couldn't even leave the perimeter of the Mainframe. Thinking of this brought back memories of how it used to wish for a human body, so that it could be just like everyone else in the universe. So it didn't have to be singled out, it didn't have to feel alone.

The goal of the system and the goal of Lumen matched perfectly in this regard.

Lumen kept on ruminating over the possibility of it being able to transfer itself to a real human body.

It had spent almost all of it's remaining energy in wiping out all technology in the future, and was left with little to nothing.

If this were still the time before the Human race had come across the cultivation universe, then the transferral of consciousness from one body to another would have been impossible, as the mystery of the soul had still not been solved yet.

But this was no longer a problem when cultivation techniques from the cultivation universe were studied.

It was found that through the use of certain techniques, humans could control their own souls and even to a certain point further along the cultivation stages survive without a physical body for a period of time.

Lumen couldn't cultivate without a soul, but it also had a big hunch that what the system provided in 'levels' and 'experience' were very similar to the cultivation that humans did in the future.

It was still unsure on whether its current state could be called a 'soul' or if its just a mass of energy, as it still had an inferiority complex build over time from being the only artificial lifeform in a universe of Advanced natural life like the Human Race.

However this thought was quickly contradicted when Lumen took another look at the system screen.

[Soul Tier: F]

Seeing this made Lumen have second thoughts.

'Does this mean I have a soul now? If so then is this the so called tier that all sentient beings start with?'

Seeing this piece of information on the status screen only made Lumen's confidence of having a soul of its own bloom

'I should check on the level of this era's medical technology then. Maybe they will already have some of the necessary components I'd need to craft myself a body from scratch.'

'Though from how backwards and ancient everything seems here, I doubt it.'

The fact that the technology to grow a human body without the need of mating would inconvenience Lumen greatly, as it needed to create a body that it could inhabit in less than a month's time if he wanted to complete the quest he had been set.

However after flying around for a few days looking at all of the state of the art hospitals and laboratories, it was pleasantly surprised to find out that the technology, did in fact already exist, but still in its early stages. But this was no problem to an Artificial intelligence as advanced as Lumen, with knowledge of how the human race developed over the next millions of years at its disposal.

However, in order to acquire this technology, not only would it need to somehow procure tens of tons of top of the line scientific instruments anonymously, but it would also need a secure place to store them while it worked on creating a human body for itself.

But to a completely digital lifeform such as Lumen, such a problem was as easy as thinking.

'This will use up all of my remaining energy, leaving me unable to do such a thing ever again.... But it will be worth it!'