- Avatar Customization Package: 'Adrestia' -

- Manager B67 Status: Pending -

Please wait...

"Ughh.."

Peter opened his eyes to find himself in a familiar position. On the ground having just passed out.

"Adrestia?" -He looked around the new white expanse- "Are you there?"

No response came. Peter yelled out Adrestia several times only to hear nothing in return. He tried running in one direction without stopping, but he found nothing changed. This place was infinite as far as he could tell. The concept was truly mind-boggling to Peter. On top of that, the damned pop-up like screen kept following him around where ever he went.

"Well, now what?" Peter growled in frustration, "I can't go anywhere or do anything.. what in the heck am I supposed to do here?"

Peter suddenly realized how strange it was that he was running around everywhere. Not that running was particularly weird, just that he was running, and never really stopped to see what he was using to run with. He knew that he had a previous life and that he was male, but he didn't know what his body was right now.

He looked down and examined himself on purpose for the first time. To his surprise, all he saw was a deep gold color in the outline of a man. He had legs, feet, toes, hands and arms. His anatomy was definitely a human, a skinny one at that, but the color of his skin was just a dark gold color with a metallic sheen to it. He also felt his height would be around 5' 3", but he had no way of confirming that since there were no objects to compare his size to.

"Weird..." He pinched the skin on his arm to find it felt like normal human skin. The only reason he knew what skin was supposed to feel like is that he still retained lots of his memories of the Sciences and Biology. He could remember some objects, but he couldn't seem to remember anything else.

***

Lots of time went by. Peter filled it with figuring out that his entire body was made up of that golden material, and then laying down to attempt to sleep. He felt like he was here for days. Frustration kept building up as Peter waited. There was literally nothing to do, nothing to look at, and nowhere to go. He was slowly beginning to hate this jackass known as 'Manager B67'.

Eventually, he got bored enough to try and say words with his voice. The only reason he wanted to do that is because it wasn't really a voice he recognized. The situation was similar to waking up with a numb arm, then touching it. It was still his, but it didn't feel like his. He started by just trying to name off any words he could think of. Then he figured he might as well read the screen that's been in front of his face this entire time.

"Hmm.. Avatar Customization Package Adrestia. Manager B67 Status pe--Woah!!"

Suddenly another floating panel appeared out of nowhere. This one was much larger.

Status Name: Peter Valk Kastell Level: -N/A- Gender: Male Class: Arbiter Race: -N/A- Fame: 0 Traits [Powerful Soul] Health -N/A- / -N/A- Mana !ERROR! Stamina -N/A- / -N/A- END 0 VIT 0 DEX 0 STR 0 WIS !ERROR! KRM -78 INT !ERROR!

".... Holy crap. So that's what Adrestia meant by a 'stat' system. How did that happen exactly?" Peter closely examined his stats.

"I can answer that."

Peter turned right, then left, then all the way around but he couldn't locate the source of the voice. He noticed the first window had changed. He read it just as it faded away.

- Manager B67 Status: ACTIVE -

"Ahh." Peter let out an understanding sigh, "Should I call you 'Manager B67'? Or do you have a name that you prefer?"

Peter narrowed his eyes and looked around. The disembodied laughter of a man began. It was barely the volume of a whisper but slowly grew into a hearty chuckle.

"Ha! What an observant soul you are. Adrestia chose a smart one, as is her usual I suppose."

Peter sighed, "It's not hard to observe the exact same window for a bagillion hours!", then he swung around a full 180 degrees to find a man standing there as if he had been there the whole time.

The man looked like he was around 45 years old, and 6' tall. He had a bit of a pot belly, and an all around tubby physique. He was also wearing a greek style toga, sandals, and a green wreath that sat snugly on his curly hair. Even despite his slightly overweight figure, he looked to be hiding a deceptively strong body. His arms were thick, and his legs looked steady. He had a slightly smug look on his face to go with his cheery eyes.

Peter clenched his fists and looked at the man, his eyes narrowing into a glare. "Hey, B67, where were you all this time? I feel like I've been waiting for 4 or 5 days now."

The man's smug look seemed to disappear as he returned the glare. His thick arms crossed sternly over his chest. "Hey, Peter, who the hell do you think you are talking to me like that?"

The man bent down into a 'runners pose' before the start of a race, swiveling one foot to gain a good grip, then took off so fast that it looked like he vanished. Suddenly Peter lifted off of the ground straight into the air as the man had uppercut Peter right in his golden colored jaw. Peter felt mind-numbing pain as his jaw broke and neck fractured. He flew only about 20 feet away, but the arc in which he flew was at least 40 feet high.

Peter landed with a dull thud. The pain was so intense that if Peter had food in his stomach, he was sure he'd have thrown it all up by now. He stayed still on the ground expecting the pain to eventually ease up, but instead, the pain actually got worse. It felt like his neck and jaw were moving back into place, and it was terrifyingly painful. Peter let out a bloodcurdling scream.

*POP*.... *CRACK* *POP*

The sounds of his bones rang in his ear loudly. Bones repairing themselves so close to the ear sounded deep and hollow.

"AHHHHHH, Aahh.. Ahh... Goddamn it... what the hell B6--"

Just as the pain receded, a huge boom resounded through the white world yet again as B67 sent his fist straight through Peter's chest, and into the ground below. A spiderweb of cracks surrounded Peter on the ground.

This was a new kind of pain. It felt almost 'cold'. Like parts of yourself that should never be exposed to the open air... were suddenly thrown out of your body and run over by a truck.

Peter tried to scream, but he lacked the lungs to do so. The combination of his small body and B67's large arms meant that almost 60% of his entire chest was punched flat. A pool of a light blue foamy substance formed around him as if it were blood.

B67 looked at Peter with a smirk and narrowed eyes, as if he were getting sweet revenge for something Peter had done a long time ago. "You know what? I take it back. You aren't as smart as I thought you were."

He pulled his fist out of Peter all at once, making a sickening 'slosh' sound as he walked away. Arm still dripping blue foam.

Peter's fingers and toes curled into sickening shapes from the pain. The blue foam from both B67's arm, and the blue foam in a puddle around him began forming back into his chest. It took almost a full 4 minutes to heal from this injury, while his jaw and neck only took about 15 seconds from when he landed. Peter felt every ounce of pain. If he had a biological body he would have passed out from the it all within the first minute. It's not an exaggeration to say it was the worst pain a human could go through.

Around 250 excruciating seconds later, and the last rib popped back into place, he could finally scream. He screamed for almost another 4 full minutes as he clutched his chest with shaking hands.

B67 stood where Peter first saw him. Patiently waiting for Peter to finish up digesting the agony.

When Peter finally stopped, he just stared at the sky and didn't move. He was afraid that if he moved the pain would return.

After some time, Peter shakily got to his feet. If he had biological eyes, they would be bloodshot. His stance was twisted by the remnants of the pain he just finished going through.

"y....yyyouu... why woul.. would youu...."

Peter stuttered and struggled with forming words. The new set of lungs didn't want to obey him just yet. But just as he was about to try again, a new window popped up in front of him.

Trait upgraded: Powerful Soul - Rank II

B67 let off another hearty laugh. "Adrestia was right after all I see. You are a special one."

Peter wasn't sure what to think, but before he could decide he began to let off a bright glow. His skin's metallic luster became even more extravagant, and the glow persisted.

Peter began piecing together the clues, "You.. you work with Adrestia? She told you that I gained a trait during the t... 'Test'.. Didn't she?" The final stutters working their way out of Peter's shaky voice. The trait was clearly doing its job, because Peter felt many times better already.

B67 raised his eyebrows in surprise, "How.. ahahaha. Maybe you actually are clever." He thought for a second, "Well then 'clever guy'.. can you tell me what Adrestia told me to do if I could raise your trait in this realm?" The surprised look turned back into a cruel, and bloodthirsty glare. He bent down into a 'runners pose' again.

Peter's eyes went wide with despair. He shook his head slowly as he backed away, arms lifted in front of him. "No... No no no no please. Please I'll never tell you what to do ag--"

Peter went flying, this time his shoulder was completely torn from his body, arm and all. Blue foam painted the ground behind him.

Blue foam painted the ground behind him.

Peter screamed.

***

-- 34 days | 7 hours | 55 minutes since Avatar customization was initiated --

A blue splatter the size of a living room was spread out on the ground. It seemed still for a few seconds, but then it rippled as if a pebble had been tossed into a pond's surface.

The puddle began reforming into threads of gold at first, then it piled into the center of its mass, slowly growing into a 6'7" tall shape of a slender human male. The reformation took only 20 seconds from start to finish and the man it formed had a cold look on his face. Anguish was far from what he felt now. All he wanted was vengeance against the fat bastard who had tortured him for an amount of time that he had completely lost track of.

"You put up a good fight that time my boy!" a cheery call from B67 came from behind, "I broke a sweat that time. That's how I know you're making progress!"

Peter turned around and found a slightly tubby man reclining on a lawn chair, and feeding himself grapes from a bunch.

Peter said nothing. He just glared then walked slowly over to B67. Each step shaking the ground and causing a crack to form. Just before he arrived at the lawn chair, he suddenly reached for B67s face and...

...took a grape from the bunch.

"Damn, I really thought I was doing better than just giving you a workout! Ahaha." Peter scratched the back of his head with an embarrassed smile, and ate the grape.

"Boy, I may not be a God, but I am certainly more than you should be able to handle as a mere mortal soul! Hahaha, the fact that you can even fight back against a soul manager is utterly unheard of!"

B67 sat up from his chair and stood in front of Peter. "You sure have grown thanks to that trait eh? You were a head shorter than me when I first saw you, now you're a head taller than me!

"Pfft. All the Good it does me. You still wipe the floor with me every time we fight." Peter looked down, slightly sad as he chewed. "At least the mental fortitude trait has been keeping me from being tortured through it all like the first 3 and a half days of my training." A small smile cracked on Peter's face.

"No worries Peter. It's been what, 6 or 7 days since your last upgrade right? The final few upgrades should be really close! I can feel it." B67 put a hand on Peter's shoulder. The height difference made all the more apparent with the slope his arm took to reach Peter's shoulder. "Let's start another match, shall we?" He smirked.

"Sure, I suppose we could start nooooooooooowwwww!!!!!?!"

In mid-sentence, Peter was lifted off of his feet by his shoulder and thrown into the air.

Peter rolled his eyes, "Oh you gotta be f***ing kidding m....." Peter waited, but the punch he expected to cut off his sentence never came. Peter reached the top of his climb, then began falling down.

"Well, would you look at that, he's waiting for me to fall back to the ground fir--" BOOOOOM!!!

Many more blue puddles were spread on the white realm's ground that day.

***

-- 70 days | 20 hours | 1 minute since Avatar customization was initiated --

The familiar scene of a bluish foam puddle reforming into a man played out once more, but this time it was just a little different. As the puddle finally reformed all of the bright golden skin, Peter looked down and winced at one of his hands. The thumb wasn't reforming.

"Hey B67, you've got some of me stuck in your hair or something again. Let it come back to me, my thumb is starting to sting." Peter said in a slightly annoyed voice. B67 had been getting more and more enthusiastic about beating him up lately because it took a lot more than 1 or 2 punches to turn Peter to goop.

B67 immediately started doing a jig where he stood, "Aw not again. Sorry lad! I don't know where this one is."

He continued his dance until a speck of blue the size of a chapstick container fell from his toga, "Aha! There's the lil' bugger!"

The blue foam quickly traveled to Peter and reformed with his spirit body. The thumb took only the blink of an eye to reform. Quite an improvement from the first time Peter had to regenerate himself.

Trait upgraded: Powerful Soul - Rank X (Max)

Trait upgraded: Powerful Mind - Rank X (Max)

"Oh... Oh my Goddess! It happened!!" Peter was ecstatic, the final milestone had finally been reached.

"Oohohohoo, well done kid! We can finally continue with making your Avatar! Adrestia will be very pleased indeed." B67 said with a look of pride. He brushed his bruised knuckles off on his toga.

"She sure has waited long enough for us to be done this training, that's for sure."

Peter sat down where he stood. His Golden body now shined like it was actually made of magical Gold. It was no longer just a skin, though. Peter still had the golden skin, but it was covered again in an armor like substance that grew out of his body. It covered his chest, back, thighs, shins, feet, arms, hands, and head. It was a very asthetically pleasing body armour with strategic placement around all of his joints, so it does not hinder his movement in the slightest. It was the reason B67 was bruising his knuckles just to give Peter the same treatment as always.

"Peter... did you think that the last 70 days... hahahaha. Listen lad, time doesn't flow here the same way as out in the mortal world, or the Gods realm. It's a pocket dimension created by our lady Adrestia with the intention to give you as much time as you needed."

Peter stood up, "Hold on. You're saying that we've been in here for 70 days?!" The flow of time isn't understood as well when you don't have a clock to watch or when you're unconcious in a puddle for half the time. Peter was incredibly surprised by how long he'd been here.

"No Peter, I'm saying you've technically only been in here for 17 hours. Adrestia hasn't been waiting long at all. Hahahaha!" B67 threw his head back for his classic laugh. "The time flow here is only 1/100th of the normal speed!"

Peter went wide eyed and considered that. ".... so it's kind of like we've been in a hyperbolic ti--"

"Quiet down, and pay attention, Peter." B67 cut Peter off then continued, "I've got some bad news, and I've got some good news to share with you."

Peter sat up straight, crossed his legs, and calmed himself. "Alright, go for it."

"Okay, now don't be upset right off the bat. Take what I'm about to say slowly and then say nothing, cause it's not the end of the world." The hefty man put his large hands on his waist and sighed. He put his head down and paced slightly to the side as he said, "Peter, you have no Mana."

"..." Peter stared blankly at B67 for a few seconds "... okay."

"..." B67 stared right back. "...okay?", he mirrored right back at Peter but as a question.

"Yeah, I knew about there being something wrong with my Mana. My status window is all jam-packed full of Errors because of my mana and mana related stats being messed up." Peter said flatly.

The chubby man could not hide his surprise any longer. His jaw was nearly on the floor. "You.. you knew?! Well, I guess that makes a lot of things easier. Are you really not upset at that? It's a serious debilitation you know. Where you're going, mana is a part of everyday life, and those without are seen as fodder and used as either slaves or killed for what their unfortunate... disposition."

Peter gulped. "Um, I admit that is news to me, and a little concerning." Peter looked down at his crossed legs.

B67 winced, "Oh sorry Peter, I didn't mean to frighten you. Your reaction was just surprising so I overdid the explanation on why you should be more worried. I knew you figured out you had a status panel, but I figured you didn't have enough time to examine it before I... 'interrupted' you. Hahaha!" Memories of the first beating he gave Peter made him laugh.

"Anyways, why don't you summon up your status again so we can take a look at how we can make that right?" B67 said with a smile.

Peter chimed in, "Sure!... uh... how?"

B67 looked at him confused. "Oh, just say Status."

"Okay, Status!"

Status Name: Peter Valk Kastell Level: -N/A- Gender: Male Class: Arbiter Race: -N/A- Fame: 0 Traits [Powerful Soul: Rank X]

[Powerful Mind: Rank X] Health -N/A- / -N/A- Mana !ERROR! Stamina -N/A- / -N/A- END 0 VIT 0 DEX 0 STR 0 WIS !ERROR! KRM -78 INT !ERROR!

B67 took a few seconds to look Peter's status over.

"Yep. Classic case of the manaless soul." The wreath slightly shook in B67's curled hair as he shook his head. "[Wisdom] and [Intelligence] are locked off and unusable. A darn shame that is."

Peter was feeling worse by the second. "What exactly causes manalessness in a soul?"

"Well, a few different things. Overusing mana in a past life can damage the soul; using a kind of spell that you have no skill with can backfire; ... bad luck."

Peter tilted his head. "Bad luck can cause you to not be able to use mana?"

"Yes. You have to think of mana, and the ability to use it as a talent. Like umm.. like singing! A lot of people are capable of singing, some better than others, and some have absolutely no talent to sing." B67 was satisfied with his analogy, "You, unfortunately, aren't just like a typical terrible singer. It's as if you were born mute, but with mana use instead. If it makes you feel any better, though, it likely wasn't due to your innate tallent. I have 2 main reasons for beliving this. One is that you have a naturally powerful soul. Even before you gained the trait, you were stronger than most. The other reason is your Karma."

Peter inquired, "My what?"

B67 replied, "Your Karma boy! It's blasted NEGATIVE 78. You're a walking time bomb with that kind of misfortune hanging around you."

Peter nodded his head, "That makes a lot of sense actually." Peter then thought of how Adrestia's brothers called him an anomaly and how he thought they were talking about how he found another way to complete the test. Peter now realized they were probably talking about how he couldn't use Mana, and how he had strongly negative karma.

"Why then... Why did Adrestia choose me to be her Avatar if I'm like this..." Peter realized how great of an opportunity he was being given by the Goddess. He remembered her gorgeous smile, and how she caressed his cheek. His own hand lightly touched the spot where she touched his face. A single tear got through and fell to his lap.

"I don't know the specifics, but I can only imagine Adrestia is taking a huge risk by making me her Avatar." Peter looked to B67, who had a solemn look on his face as he nodded to Peter.

"Aye, she is. She's already been ridiculed among the heavenly courts for her choice. Ya see... none of the Gods want to go back to the days where there was little to no Justice. It's the manifestation of getting what you deserve, and doesn't necessarily land on the side of good or evil. If she is strong it automatically makes the fabric of the universes strong, so when she invested so much of her divine power into making you an Avatar it caused a bit of an uproar among the Gods. You're seen as useless to them Peter, but I've spent almost two and a half months with you. I know what you're capable of and I think you'll surprise ALL of those Gods."

B67 kneeled down in front of the cross legged Peter and put a hand on his shoulder. "Now I know you don't want to disappoint Adrestia, so let us continue with teaching you how you're gonna pay her trust back," He winked, "with interest!"

Peter wiped his face with renewed determination. He then continued to look at the stats on the page. "So, what exactly do all of these other things on my status do?"

B67 smiled big. "That my boy, is EXACTLY what I'm here to help you with."

***

Over the next few hours, B67 explained how each individual stat worked to Peter.

Name, gender, race, and fame were all pretty basic. B67 merely warned Peter not to raise his fame too high too soon or he would be hunted down immediately by other Avatars. It was better to lay low for the first while as an Avatar.

A person's level is what someone uses to determine their general level of combat power. The way to raise it is by absorbing soul energy from monsters or people you kill. Peter asked excitedly about what kind of monsters awaited him in this new world, but was met with a wall when B67 told him that he wasn't allowed to tell Peter any details about the world's wildlife, the geography, or even the climate. The only specific details he was allowed to give Peter, other than about stats, was that the people there were not as technologically advanced as earth. Peter's knowledge of what could be done without mana was leagues ahead of anything they had ever even ventured to believe. At the same time, their daily lives were something Peter had never even dreamed of. Magic, monsters, powerful warriors, deadly assassins, mysterious kings who have lived for thousands of years and nobody knows how. The list went on and on. Peter could only listen with eyes open wide in wonder.

After a little while B67 came back to the main point. He had to teach Peter about stats.

Monster and human souls are typically made out of the same type of energy, but no two souls are alike. Usually only about 1, maybe 2 percent of any two souls are compatible with each other. That percentage is what transfers from the recently killed human or monster, over into the one who killed it. More of that 1 or 2 percent is usually lost during the transfer. Leveling up is typically not an easy task because of this.

Peter then asked what exactly the difference was between a human soul and a monster soul. B67 said this will be the last question until after he finishes explaining stats. Peter agreed to that. B67 then explained that a human soul goes through the cycle of reincarnation when its body dies, where a monster soul does not. The 98 to 99 percent of the monster soul that wasn't absorbed by the killer goes back into the atmosphere and becomes 'World Energy'. Once the atmosphere in a particular area is saturated with world energy again, and the right conditions are met, the monster will be formed out of that world energy.

Peter thought about it and found it was similar to moisture in the atmosphere. It was as if monsters were the dew, and world energy was the humidity. Once there was too much humidity, water would form under the right circumstances. Peter was very satisfied with this analogy, and so was B67 when Peter told him about it. Except for a few differences here or there, it was a great comparison.

Now that the final question was over, B67 told Peter to be patient and quiet because there was a lot of information to get through.

Once a person does level up they gain stat points. Every level that a normal person rises, they would gain 5 points that they could allocate to the stat that they desire to be improved. The essence of stats was to augment the body, mind, and soul in various ways, and to give a visual indication of each.

[Vitality] was the indication of how resilient your body is. It affects your total [Health], how fast you naturally regenerate [Health], your resistance to diseases or sickness, and your resistance to physical trauma like bleeding, bruising, and broken bones. It has a small impact on how long you live as well. Vitality was known to decrease as a person gets old.

While [Vitality] indicated how far your body could be pushed by external forces, [Endurance] indicated how far you could push your body yourself. It influenced total [Stamina] and [Stamina] recovery speed, the need for food and water, how much pain you could endure, and how long you could push your muscles to keep working for you before you succumbed to exhaustion.

[Endurance] was more for long distance running, and long amounts of low stress work. [Strength], however, was more about the short term. [Strength] influenced raw muscle strength, sprint speed, and had the most influence on outward appearance. It also gave a small boost in bone strength. Not as much as [Vitality], but it was enough to keep people with high amounts of strength from breaking their own bones by lifting things.

Peter was beginning to notice how every stat flowed into the next in a very elegant way. B67 was a good teacher.

[Strength] was used for raw power, while [Dexterity] was for fine motor skills.

Peter laughed when his suspicions of B67 making the explanations flow from one into the next were confirmed.

"Boy, what did I just tell you about staying quiet? What is so funny anyways!?"

Peter immediately wiped the smile off of his face and said, "Nothing sir, sorry sir." He knew better than to antagonize his short-tempered teacher.

B67 looked at Peter suspiciously, then continued.

[Dexterity] was a necessary stat for both warriors, archers, scouts, and even mages. It increased hand-eye coordination, agility, and balance, and decreased reaction time. High enough [Dexterity] could even make you ambidextrous, or give you a skill that slows down how you perceive time so that you can react even faster. [Dexterity] was the most mysterious physical stat. It seemed to help a little bit of everything, and was integral to almost every type of non-magical fighter.

Peter's ears picked up on that last point. He was going to have to be the most literal definition of a non-magical fighter.

[Wisdom] and [Intelligence] were the last two stats. [Wisdom] influenced total mana, mana regeneration rate and the strength of spells. [Intelligence] determined what spells a mage had the capability to learn, because most spells beyond beginner spells had [INT] requirements. It made one able to process information a little easier and think on the fly just a little faster. Not to be confused with reaction time. Higher levels of [Intelligence] made a mage more efficient with mana, and increased memory. There were other little bonuses here or there, but B67 said they wouldn't be very important to Peter anyways.

Traits represent the spirit and the mind, rather than a type of magic or a physical item you're in tune with. Traits were hundreds of times more difficult to get than Affinities. The Traits section of a status panel usually doesn't even show itself unless someone acquires one like Peter did. They were ranked in roman numerals, I - X.

Affinities, something Peter had yet to see, are the polar opposite of traits. They are the magic type or physical item your body was most in tune with. No spiritual types, or mental types have ever been acquired. But none of that mattered because before you could have an affinity, you had to make it to Level 50. People who made it to Level 50 were somewhat rare in the world Peter was headed to. They were also ranked in roman numerals, I - X, just like Traits.

Skills were divided into two main categories: passive, and active. Passive skills required no mana, stamina, or conscious action to work, where active skills did. Both physical and magical skills existed, of course Peter only had to worry about the physical side for obvious reasons.

Last was [Karma]. [Karma] was a stat that linked your soul to fate itself. The amount that it influenced day to day life was very small, but [Karma] was an exponential stat. Having a small amount of good luck throughout your whole life every day can greatly impact the outcomes of major events.

[Karma] was different from any other stat in that it maxed out at 100, and bottomed out at -100. The chance of a soul having 100 karma was nearly 0, but it had happened before. [Karma] did not guarantee an easy life either. There have been babies who were born with +90 [Karma] and died in their sleep due to a random infection or disease, and there have been kings with negative [Karma] who lived long and happy lives. [Karma] was a force that worked in the background of day to day life, and predicting the impact was impossible. The only reason B67 was so surprised that Peter had low [Karma] is because Peter was chosen by a God to be a major force for her influence. Usually Gods know better than to leave anything to fate. Avatars were never picked unless they had at least +50 [Karma]. The higher the better for an Avatar.

***

"Now that you understand the basics about stats, let's begin the fun part, shall we?" B67 smiled and rubbed his hands together.

"What exactly is the fun part?" Peter inquired.

"Why do you think you were given a B rank Manager to oversee your Avatar creation Peter?"

"Uhh.. I have no clue. I didn't even realize B meant anything other than an 'Employee Code' of some sort. What does the B mean?"

The middle aged man puffed out his chest and straightened his Toga, "Peter I'm here because regular managers can't access the E.C., also known as the Equilibrium Construct."

Peter sat quietly. He could sense another explanation coming on, and that B67 took true joy in teaching good students. B67's jolly persona mixed with a strong work ethic made Peter feel like he really cared. When someone cares that much, it's only natural that they earn your respect. No matter who they are.

"The Equilibrium Construct is meant specifically for Avatars who have damaged, or unique souls like yours. Gods sometimes choose damaged souls to be their Avatars because those souls represent those Gods too well to pass up. As is your case with Adrestia. Have you wondered why you feel so grateful to her for choosing you? Or why you shed a tear for someone you only ever met once? You couldn't stand that she was being looked down on for asking you to be her Avatar. Could you?"

Peter was blown away. He really hadn't thought about it. She was beautiful and kind, but him crying over her really did feel extreme.

Peter was about to open his mouth when B67 cut him off, "That's because you feel the same connection with her, that she does with you." B67 paced back and forth while he went on, "Some Gods feel an irrational loyalty for certain mortals. Sometimes it turns into love, which is how Demi-Gods are made" B67 said with a wink, then chuckled. "And other times Gods choose those people to be their Avatars. Simply because they can't stand the idea of not being able to see them. Gods have lost all of their influence and died before. Just because they felt irrational loyalty for too many mortals who were poor choices, or had damaged souls, or souls that are incompatible with the system."

B67 turned to Peter. "That is where the Equilibrium Construct comes in to play. Too many Gods perished due to them being unable to resist certain mortals. So this system strengthens the soul in little ways to make the soul passable as an Avatar." B67 looked very serious as he said, "As you are now Peter, you would be lucky if you could survive long enough to live a normal life. Never mind earn influence to make Adrestia's investment in you worth it."

"BUT." B67 said with a jolly smile again, "With the Equilibrium Construct, we can turn your weakness into your greatest strength! It is run by an artificial God called the God Artificial Intelligence Augmenter, G.A.I.A. for short. G.A.I.A. has many functions and duties, but one of them is to run the Equilibrium Construct. It was created by many different Gods collectively, and it has the power to bring your chances as an Avatar back into the green zone. You see, your soul can't process mana, but you still have a very powerful soul. You're not actually missing anything, so therefore your soul has dormant traits that the E.C. can unlock and bring to the surface."

Peter was going for a ride on an emotional roller coaster. Happiness, to confusion, to despair, and back up to hope.

B67 continued, "I'm going to spare you the rest of the details. All you need to know is that the E.C. works on a point based system. It examines you for your soul's flaws, then brings out your souls dormant potential to the equal degree that your soul was damaged. For a random example: Let's say your lack of mana was worth 10,000 points. You could use those points to spend on bonuses that the E.C. finds you possess inside of you."

"Ahh, that makes a lot of sense. I can see why they call it an 'Equilibrium' Construct." Peter said.

"Good. You get it." B67 smiled and cleared his throat, "Now before I start up the E.C., I want to tell you one thing about the bonuses. You see, there's going to be starting bonuses, and there's going to be bonuses that will help you long term. You need to choose a right mix of bonuses so that you aren't so weak that you die right away, but also don't pick too many beginner bonuses because your power won't scale as well compared to other Avatars at higher levels."

B67 put his hands on his hips, "Unfortunately that's all I can say. I'm only allowed access to the E.C. in order to start it up, but you need to make the decisions. Do you understand what you need to do Peter?"

Peter nodded. He felt like he was going crazy with anticipation.

"Good." B67 cleared his throat once again,

"Equilibrium Construct access request - Code: Adrestia 00777 - Manager B67 - Avatar: Arbiter - Start."

- It's an older code, but it checks out. -

- Access Granted -

Welcome, Peter.

"Woah.." Peter definitely still hadn't gotten used to these weird windows in his vision.

Downloading Avatar Properties now.

Peter watched as a small light came out of the window and scanned his large golden body. He began to feel minor discomfort, but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle.

Download Complete.

Critical issues found: 16

Minor issues found: 40

Tolerable issues found: 80

Chance of survival to level 50: 1.4387%

Recommended course of action:

- Immediate Equilibrium balancing -

"Woah.." It was B67's turn to be surprised. "It's worse than I thought. How strange for such a powerful soul to be so flawed at the same time."

Peter retorted, "Well according to what you told me, my soul is actually fine, it just doesn't sync well with the system of the world I'm going to."

B67 smiled, "HA, you really are smart aren't you!"

B67 said in a stern voice, "Begin!"

Suddenly Peter found himself in a chair, in a small room. He couldn't tell what the walls and ceiling were made out of though. It was really strange.

Equilibrium points awarded:

16 x 2000 +

40 x 500 +

80 x 50 =

56,000 E.P.

Congratulations, Your soul has

overtaken the previous first place soul

on the leader board by 27,300 points!

"...Hurray.. I win the 'Most-screwed-up-soul' Award!" Peter's words were dripping with sarcasm.

As an added bonus, your patron

Goddess has awarded you an extra

20,000 points with her own Divine Power.

Make sure to say thank you!

New total: 76,000 E.P.

"Okay wise guy, I know you're doing that on purpose. Quit goofing around and get on with it."

Hey, lighten up will you? Do you have any idea how rare

it is for me to even be woken up? Let me enjoy myself a bit before they put me to sleep for another 60 years.

"Oh..." Peter cringed a little, "I'm sorry. I've only been left behind for 3 or 4 days before and that was nearly unbearable. I'm just a little tense right now. I'm kinda not sure whether I'm going to die soon or not."

You shouldn't be too worried. You have more E.P. than anyone has ever seen before. I'm still not done giving you all of your bonuses.

"Oh?? Well then. That certainly makes me feel better. How about we continue?", Peter felt a little more confident now.

Soul strength compensation: 25,000 E.P

Usually this bonus is not a positive, it's a negative.

Normally souls wouldn't be strong enough to handle even half of the points they earn. But your soul is

even stronger than some of the C-rank Avatar managers!

Peter stared in awe, "B67 you clever son of a b..." Out of reflex Peter hunched down and prepared for a punch. "... Jeez, I've got PTSD when I talk about him."

Removal of consumable stat [Mana], and

static stat [Wisdom], and [Intelligence]

compensation: 15,000 E.P.

Final total: 116,000 E.P.

Hint: At least find replacement stats for [Wisdom] and

[Intelligence]. You don't want to be missing mental stats.

"Good tip." Peter nodded.

Opening Equilibrium Shop

Choose wisely Peter.

"Noted." Peter smirked as a huge window opened up in front of him.