“Normally it wouldn’t be complicated, but you have to activate this skill through the help of unused energy stored in the system as you lack the requirements to use it freely.”

“The same energy that is supposed to create those sub-systems?”

“Yea.”

“Do you know what sub-systems are?”

“Oh, right, you aren’t aware. Sub-systems are the brackets on the first page of the panel, you know, achievements, inventory, and shop. The reason you have to travel to other realms in order create more with the unused energy is because you require a catalyst to form a sub-system from that energy.”

“So, for every world I enter I get a new sub-system?” Although it was rather overpowered, he didn’t see a reason to complain, this was real life, not a novel, so balance can go to hell.

“No, you dimwit, didn’t you read the quest description? You only have enough energy to form four sub-systems, there are no more freebies after that.”

“Ok, if you’re that smart then figure out how to use that skill ‘o great system fairy’.” Theo retorted.

Eileen clearly didn’t appreciate the comment, as she puffed up her cheeks.

“Fine then, I initially wanted to try an alternative route, but if you’re that impatient then you can just go on autopilot. Bye, bye.” She said as she waved her hand with a mischievous glint in her eyes.

“Wha…” He couldn’t even finish as four fist-sized spheres of radiating white energy shot out of him at a speed faster than light, just before he blacked out.

***

Just as he regained consciousness, he immediately felt pain assault him. Putting a hand on his forehead, the origin of this pain, he sensed a warm and wet sensation. Slowly opening his eyes, his sight immediately landed on a multitude of trunks, leaves, and myriad of other vegetation, presumably a forest. But when his vision swept to the side, he was met with an edge of a television screen, although an edge of a particularly giant one.

“*** *** **?!” A female voice could be heard, clearly speaking in a foreign language.

Slowly regaining his sense of direction, he picked himself up into a sitting position and barely took a quick glance at his surroundings, when another burst of pain assaulted him. This time, however, it wasn’t physical pain, it was the pain resulting from a massive amount of memories slamming into his head all at once.

He didn’t know how much time passed, all he could see was black and his ears only picked up gibberish noises that his overloaded brain had no time to decipher. He also sensed a system notification appear on the panel, but he was in no condition to check it out, let alone read it.

The influx of memories stopped, but his mind still worked frantically to organize this information. Just as Theo thought he would get some relief and the voices started to become clearer… he blacked out again.

***

Waking up once more, he had no idea how much time passed, but it felt like he just woke up from a really long sleep. The pain wasn’t that intense anymore, but his body felt like it was on fire and his stomach hurt a little.

Opening his eyes, he was met with a familiar scene, only this time the trees were a lot bigger, and it wasn’t projected on a television screen. The scene was beautiful, to say the least, but he was in no condition to appreciate it.

It would seem as though a higher force didn’t intend to let him rest as the scene from before repeated itself. His mind got overloaded with a brand-new dosage of memories. The system notification appeared again, and he lost all sense of direction.

When it subsided though, he blacked out yet again.

***

Waking up again, Theo fought off the drowsiness, quickly opened his eyes, and mentally prepared himself for what was to come.

The scene of a forest entered his sight again, yet this time, although not as big, it was a lot more colorful and vibrant, truly worthy of being called a magical scene.

"Growl!"

But the forest wasn’t the only thing entering his vision, there were also hundreds of sharp teeth and at least a dozen glowing yellow eyes.

Turning to his right in shock, his eyes landed on an orange furred creature resembling a hyena gnawing on his right arm. There were another two doing the same to his legs and a couple more surrounding him. Fate had no mercy on him, however, as the influx of memories hit him again.

The return of piercing pain announced the end of the process, but Theo’s conciseness quickly got pulled back into the realm of dreams.

***

Opening his eyes for the fourth time, Theo was met with a traumatizing sight of trees yet again, gazing at them through a wooden frame of a window. He didn’t even bother to assess his surroundings though, but rather just steeled his mind for the impending crisis.

The feeling of a forceful wave of memories that he was all too familiar with by now hit him again. Knowing that there was nothing that could be done, he just let fate take its course. The process went on just like the other three times, yet when it stopped… nothing followed.

For a while, all that could be heard in a small room of what appeared to be an old wooden cottage was the rough breathing of a bandaged youth lying on a shabby bed.

Theo didn’t know what was going on, which pretty much became commonplace in his life as of late. His mind was in a mess, not just from the continuous memory influxes, but also the identity crisis he was undergoing.

The whole process he just went through was just horrible to him. Not from the pain, although he didn’t like it, he was used to it, but the feeling of having no control over the situation and even your body terrified him. He lived his whole life under the influence of a curse, so being at the mercy of another higher power right after he thought he was free just made him angry. He wasn’t too sure what or who to be mad at, but he was angry non the less.

His anger would have to wait though, as his conciseness slowly faded into darkness, yet this time not from outer influence, but just from pure mental exhaustion.