Kellin looked at the notification and nodded, calling up his [Status] to verify its existence.

[Status Report]

[Kellin Finnel, Gypsy]

[Threat Level: 0]

[Race: Marine]

[Designation #: Progenitor]

[Current Title: Unselected]

[Class: Unselected]

[Profession: Unselected]

[Unspent Credits: 5]

[Spent Credits: 1]

[Body Status:

Condition: Normal

Health: 46/50, 0/0

Integrity: 0/0, 50/50

Stamina: 38/50, 0/0

Energy: 0/0, 50/50

Mana: 0/0, 0/0]

[Stats:

Strength: 5/5: 10

Dexterity: 5/5: 10

Armor: 0/3: 3

Constitution: 3/0: 3

Density: 0/5: 5

Endurance: 5/0: 5

Battery: 0/5: 5

Cardio: 5/N/A: 5

Efficiency: 0/5: 5

Intelligence: 5/10: 15

Wisdom: 6/2: 8

Perception: 5/0: 5

Sensors: 0/5: 5

Willpower: 20/N/A]

[Skills: N/A]

[Evolutions: N/A]

[Equipment:

Cannister Rifle:

Damage: 5

Ammo: 0

Durability: N/A

Upgrades: N/A]

After checking and feeling palpable relief that all his [Stats] had gone back to normal, Kellin searched for [Willpower] and found it, addressing Gypsy.

"Gypsy, do you see the [Willpower] [Stat]?" he asked immediately, focusing on the N/A portion of the page.

He'd never seen that on a [Stat] sheet in all his years of life.

"Negative," came the curt response.

"Copy... That put aside, where to start with using this opportunity," he mused, facing uphill and away from the missing bodies. "Shelter is a must, but exploring as we are is equivalent to suicide."

When no response came, Kellin sighed, making up his mind about his new 'AI' friend.

"Gyps, speak freely when I mumble, please. I'm not sure what all happened to me, but it seems you've got it worse. Talking can help. You've kept me alive for ten years serving that arrogant man already as is; your input is as important as my own in these situations, if not more so. Not to mention I no longer have others I can bounce ideas back and forth with. Without your calculations and input, we'd not have made it past a single day on Redmond, either."

Silence reigned for another few seconds until finally, her monotone voice calmed some of his anxiety, something that was ironic considering she had been the largest source of it until just recently. Now, however, his mind felt wonderfully clear. It was still slower than he was used to, his reactions and thoughts slogging their way through what he could only describe as a constantly distracted and drunk mind, but he was determined. Driven. Focused. It may take longer to reach conclusions and act, but he wasn't alone.

"Suggested course of action: Choose [Class], check [Notifications], allocate [Credits]. Remain in current area as tentative safe zone."

She'd gone back to speaking more disjointed and blocky. That was fine.

"Why is this a safe zone? We were attacked here and the bodies are gone," he pointed out, turning the suit back around and motioning at the carnage that was behind them.

"Life form that collected bodies was Den Mother of Savul. Inspected Combat Suit-"

"Wait, what?" he interrupted, wholly ignored.

"-shortly after fight, but left alone. No other lifeforms moved through area while Captain Finnel was unconscious. Result: Left alone and alive. High threat individual in area. Other threats will avoid. Safer than unknown while weakened."

Kellin felt Gypsy's words hit him in his chest like a truck as his mind scrambled to keep up.

"What?" he asked again, disbelieving.

"Life form that collected-"

"No, stop," he said, holding up an open hand like he was speaking with another person. "Give me a moment."

Out of his own spiral of terror and confusion then thrown right back into another, Kellin sat down on the tree he'd spent nearly half a day at already since he'd woken up the night prior, careful to avoid the pool of gross silver and black liquid slowly seeping into the ground near the small pool of water.

"You're saying a Den Mother let us live?"

"That is correct," came the response, offering no other explanation or chance of being refuted.

Fact.

Kellin rested his helmet in his hands again.

"And it did not touch us?" he confirmed.

"Den Mother collected dead Swarmlings and left shortly after, inspecting Combat Suit briefly from distance," Gypsy reported.

Staring at his feet again, Kellin chuckled a bit and shook his head at yet another impossibility becoming known to him. Den Mothers... really any of the Savul NEVER left Humans or any life form alive. Any and all of their race were known to be extremely aggressive, leaving nothing but death in their wake. With the ability to sense heartbeats from miles away in some of the strongest of their kind, Matriarchs, Queens, and the like, they were efficient at creating entire sections of impassable terrain on planet surfaces.

Death Zones.

"You're sure it was not a Demon evolved to look like a Savul?" he asked to confirm.

"Sensors all working perfectly despite Captain Finnel's incapacitation. Individual Den Mothers differ greatly in appearance due to evolutionary factors, but all Savul are brown, red, and black in appearance. Demons and Savul have similar evolutionary lines, but mature Savul have distinct purple markings near faces. Den Mother had jagged lines running parallel up sides of mandibles."

Kellin took another breath and nodded, hearing the slight ire at his disbelief and nearly laughing about it despite himself. The situation was rapidly becoming ludicrous in every way shape and form.

"Why did you choose to wait to tell me?" he asked.

"Captain Finnel incapacitated immediately upon awakening. On second awakening, different priorities," came the response.

"Fair enough," he mumbled. "Probably wouldn't have taken it well. Not that anyone else could."

If confirming that the Swarmlings were Savul wasn't scary enough, hearing they were currently smack in the center of a Den Mother's territory had him itching to leave but also thankful they could stay for a moment. That is, until it returned to kill them. He did not know why their existence was being tolerated, but whenever in his life the universe decided to extend Kellin an olive branch, he made a point to take the damn olive branch.

"Then we'll stay here and go through these error notifications, as you suggested," he stated, looking at the upper right corner blinking 999 while steeling himself for the slog of errors and information to come. "This will take a while."

"No need. AI has already parsed through entirety of notification log. 2'470 error messages removed from bank. 820-page summary detailing errors and implications prepared for Captain Finnel."

"...Copy, not necessary for now," Kellin replied slowly.

"Will put on 'Important Information Reading List' for Captain Finnel to parse through at later time."

"...Excellent, thank you Gypsy," he mumbled. "Incidentally, when did you have the time to do that?" he hesitantly asked.

"Errors parsed through while Captain Finnel remained unconscious for second time. Finished all notifications just prior to expulsion of liquids onto ground."

"Right," he huffed out. "Then how much was left after the clean-up?"

"Requesting permission to sync non-exclusive [System] messages," came the response, though he could feel it was not directed at him in the strange manner one could always tell someone was speaking to the [System].

No AI had ever before been able to contact the [System] back in Sector Five despite thousands and thousands of experiments. The fact that soon after she spoke a message popped up asking for permission to sync his notifications list with 'Gypsy' was a larger and more irrefutable truth than anything else that could confirm what she had become.

[Marine Gypsy Designation #Progenitor would like to sync notifications with you as Primary Recordkeeper. Due to nature of symbiotic relationship, all non-exclusive notifications will be synced and stored in a similar manner to the other party. Note: Unsync available at any time. Do you accept?]

[Yes]

[No]

Nodding slightly, Kellin chose yes and watched the counter in his upper right vision go rapidly from 999+ down to 19. It felt like a weight had just been lifted off his chest just by doing that alone, the vastly reduced number a catharsis.

"Right then, thank you Gypsy," he said.

"No need to thank AI Designa-"

"It's fine," he interrupted. "And appreciated. Now then, that leaves us 19 to go through," he said aloud.

"Incorrect. Two are exclusive to individual. One is repeated. Captain Finnel additionally has one more than AI."

"Then 18 for me, 17 for you," he corrected, opening the unread notifications as he began to move through them, a cold snap moving goosebumps across his body at the first listing.

[Congratulations Kellin Finnel, designation #Error, on your first victory in battle! Bonus credits awarded for slaying two combatants above your threat level: 5]

It would seem he'd reset it as unread on instinct before passing out and it had gotten placed at the top of his queue.

"Does your list start with this," he stated, requesting the [System] to share the notification with Gypsy in his mind like he would when sharing it with any other individual.

"Affirmitive. Name replaced with Gypsy in AI iteration. Second notification is [Body moDIfiCation unstaBLe]"

The instant response to his [System] generated message continued to remind him that he was talking to a person now. He nodded belatedly, a bit amazed at her ability to recreate the disjointed warbling he heard when the [System] read the same text aloud in his mind, and then moved back to his notifications.

[Credit allocation complete]

[Body moDIfiCation unstaBLe]

[Error detected! Bonus Credits allocated to stabilize individual for assistance in discovery of error]

[High compatibility detected]

[Body modification stabilized]

[New Race identified!]

[Welcome individual Kellin Finnel, Gypsy to Universe Arlanda!]

[Individual has been given unique permissions circumventing tutorials and training as previous residents of Arlanda]

[New Race identified as Marine: An unlikely fusion of Human, technology, and magic, the Marine is a people that utilizes a strong exterior to protect its fragile body underneath. Born as something similar to a Human from birth, the individual is drawn into a bond with another, causing a fusion of will and fate to occur that splits their soul in two halves, turning the designated AI and Combat Suit into an individual of its own and connecting them to the Human for life. A mix of technology and magic of the soul, the Marine is capable of much and little, their fate yet to be determined by the progenitor of their race. Note: Soul returns to whole upon death]

[Congratulations! You have been awarded Master status of your bonding. As the original owner of your soul, Gypsy has become your servant. May you use this individual well. Note: Soul may be removed from individual Gypsy at any point, reverting servant to non-sapient state. Warning: Damage to soul will be permanent and leave individual Kellin Finnel severely incapacitated for remaining life. Note: Evolution options revoking Master/Servant relationship require consent of both parties. All other Evolutions at discretion of Master individual]

[Congratulations! You have become the Progenitor of a new Race! Your decisions and actions from here on will determine the fate of your people! Lead well, Progenitor! Bonus Credits awarded for creation of a new Race: 2'000 {Claimed by System for stabilization process}]

[New Evolution options Available! Warning: Class options may become unselectable after Evolution]

[Congratulations! You have been awarded a new Title: Progenitor! Title gives a drastic increase in Virility rate of Progenitor! May your people propagate!]

[New Class options Available! Note: First Class selected by individual may be changed after ten days. After confirmation or change, Class may not be changed for one year. Note: As new Race, primary Evolution must be selected before choosing a Class]

[Welcome to new world: Terranis!]

[Congratulations! You are the first of your Race to visit the fringe world Terranis! Bonus Credits awarded based on Threat Level: 10]

[Congratulations! You survived contact with a hostile Threat Level 12 individual while still a non-Threat! Bonus Title awarded: The Lucky One! Title grants individual Skill Truth Confirmation! Truth Confirmation: Allows individual to state one truth a week that all available to hear understand as an undeniable fact! How else would any believe you survived certain death?]

[New Evolution options Available! Warning: Class options may become unselectable after Evolution]

He searched around for anything else, but when he realized that was the end to the list he felt almost disappointed. 999+ messages reduced to a mere fraction that confirmed his findings, but gave him nothing in the way of advantages or hints at how to proceed, even slapping him in the face at [Credits] given and taken away. Other than 10 measly [Credits] he was allowed to keep, that the world was named Terranis, and that he had a useless skill available to him, it was a bust.

A mostly useless skill, at least, until he met other Humans.

Still, he might as well try it out once. He certainly would not be equipping the other one he'd received any time soon.

"Virility of all things... Equip [Title]: [The Lucky One]."

[Title unavailable. Bonded individual Gypsy does not have access to this Title]

The few bonus [Credits] he was allowed to keep were nice, he reminded himself as his brow twitched in irritation.

"So much for that," he sighed out. "I'm guessing that one was an exclusive notification?"

"Affirmative. AI does not have access to said [Title]."

Kellin nodded and opened his mouth to ask what [Title] she was given access to, but reconsidered briefly and stopped the question. He was almost certain he knew what the other two exclusive messages were and did not know how to broach that subject just yet. Gypsy had always been an existence to him akin to a pet. Cherished and loved, perhaps even a member of the family, but firmly adhering to his interests and will as any tool should. Now, however...

Being a Master of a genuine person was more than a little disconcerting.

Glancing around the area once again, he tabled the conversation for later. If all this information was a lot for him to take in, he could only imagine how difficult it would be to suddenly be given a consciousness. Asking how his former AI felt about being a Servant to him immediately after it was finally granted autonomy post literal years of servitude...

He did not miss that only he was allowed to break the contract, either. Truly one way.

[Title equipped: Progenitor]

"NO!" he shouted on reflex, broken out of his dark musings and unselecting the option in a panic.

"Apologies. Diagnostic testing in process."

Kellin chuckled a bit to himself and nodded, a bit thankful for the distraction.

"Understandable. Let's just... avoid that [Title]. How about we move on to available [Evolutions] and [Classes], shall we?" he suggested, scratching at the side of his helmet.