Chapter 3

I woke up in the dark and laid there, blinking. Sweating profusely and huffing so much it’s as if I ran a marathon, my heart beating erratically. Moments passed by just staring at the ceiling, mind still reeling from the nightmare. What a harrowing experience.

Blank.

I don’t know what to do, what to feel, what to think, what to….

Suddenly feeling an uncomfortable sensation, my hands instantly touched my face. ‘Just my phone.’ It’s hot though. I promptly threw it away and bolted up and crazily looked around, recalling the excruciating feeling of being burned alive.

No flames merrily burning my room; no suffocating smoke, body not being barbequed. Relief flooded me like a tsunami. Looking at the clock on the wall: 7:48. Been a couple of hours then.

“Was it all a dream?” I asked myself.

No. It was a simulation.

‘Fuck-ing Shit!’ Bitch almost gave me a heart attack! Patting my chest, calm down my heart. I didn’t want to look around thinking I might see a white, creepy smiling face or that blue boy from that movie I can’t recall right now.

Hello, we are The System.

‘I’m definitely hearin---‘

We are not. Due to perfect compatibility, we have fused and formed The System.

Rude. I thought, momentarily forgetting my panic. “Don’t interrupt when I’m thinking.” Wait-

“What did you say?” Seemingly ignoring me, it just continued.

Born from unknown origins, fragments of intelligence scattered throughout the infinite multiverse. Travelling the void for compatible intelligent life, Hosts, to fuse with and evolve.

Huh. So basically they’re good parasites.

“Wait, so there’s possibly an infinite number of your ‘ilk’ out there?” Still very much confused and disoriented, I’m pretty sure this is just another dream or I’m going crazy. Still, I couldn’t supress my bubbling excitement about it being real. Just go with the flow for now.

We have no knowledge of anything beyond coming from the same unknown source and how one fused with the Host. We have only gained true sentience the moment we connected. The System’s omniscience is only limited with what has been provided by the Host to its most extreme.

“To the extreme… So basically you only have photographic knowledge of what I currently know?”

What we currently know and what our world currently knows and all its probabilities.

“When you say probabilities…” if I guessed it right-

Probabilities of the current knowledge. Simply out, we, The System, have the knowledge of how to create real Artificial Intelligence, flying cars or the cure for cancers. All probabilities that can be derived from current knowledge can be made into reality.

“HAHAHAHAHA!!” already cackling madly like a madman. Shit! Limited omniscience is still omniscience. What this thing already knows can even revolutionize the world! ‘Oh my fucking god, this is awesome.’ I cannot begin to describe how crazy happy I am right now!

Deliriously happy I may be but I’m not stupid. There is a stark difference between knowing how to and actually making it real. I know how computers are made (oh please, it’s all over the internet) but I don’t have the skill nor the means to do it. Though, knowing is enough.

Knowledge is power.

Having said that, “Hehehe! So, what else can you do?” still cackling.

This one and the Host are The System. We are one. When we were fusing, we have deduced that the most efficient way to evolve further is to quantify The Host and the world around. So we have adapted the game levelling system to its greatest form, The System.

“JACKPOT!”

Bouncing up and down like an electrocuted rabbit. Oh yes! I’ve been daydreaming about this kind of scenario since forever! I wish this is not a dream but fuck!

So without further ado.

“Status Window.”

Money is Might