《Dungeon and Stars》CH 16 Just Another Brat
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“So as much as I love to wait for AI to wake up from its naps I’m too bored to do so anymore. I’m going to circulate again. I’m going to do the eightieth layered compressions. And once those are done I’m not going to stop until I have a hundred circulates.”
“Isn’t that right system?”
OondiseddUtcamsAvvilba
“Thanks for the vote of confidence system.”
UrWincom
“That was sarcasm system. I didn’t really mean it.”
“System?”
Great now I’m being ignored by system as well. Isn’t that just great…
Maybe I should talk less…
So, I’ve finally compressed eighty circulates of man around the rings of my very being. And with that completed I’ve also gained new insight. Specifically, I’ve been able to recall another life.
In this life, I was a frail thing with long brown hair. I was short and knew not of any blood relations. I had a boss as well as some sisters but that was only in name. I don’t know the age that I lived to but it wasn’t long. I lived in a wooden shack with six other girls. We had little option in what we wore and we were lucky when we were allowed to eat. We spent most days looking for stalls to steal food from and stacked them out for a few days until the right moment arrived. We couldn’t be obvious though or we would be run out of the plaza. Sometimes we begged but that was never a profitable endeavor.
Some of the elder girls would work for some scraps but even that was rare as no one really needed us. Sometimes a girl would disappear after a time. When that happened we always got a new sister to help. But even then, we were only sisters in name. We stood by each other when threatened but there was always a hierarchy in place. We would always get to share our spoils with each other. The one who had “found” it was given a third of whatever was brought back. Half of the spoils would go to the matron while the rest was passed to the rest. If the loot was good enough the Boss would come and collect his cut from us as well.
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But that was just how it was. We fought and schemed for everything we got. Then if it was worth anything it was taken from us. I became annoyed with this type of life so I decided to make a change.
I found an abandoned building, there were plenty of them, and I started to hoard some of the things I had “found” there. I had to do this slowly as if I didn’t produce any results for extended periods of time then I would be left behind or turned in by boss for some coin. I worked like this for two winters slowly ever so slowly gathering supplies for myself. Then the day came where I decided to disappear.
I gathered my things and left the shake that I had called home for the major part of my life. I went to my stash and as I climbed in I found it empty of all the things I had gathered over the course of those two bitter winters. I refused to go back to them after all the effort I put into leaving them.
So, I did the only thing I could think of to do.
I left the city in search of monsters. No one knew I had left or that I planned on putting my life on the line but that was the only option left for me.
Well, the only option I was willing to do anyway.
So, I left the slum and went into to the wooded land. Along the way, I had picked up a stick with a jagged end. I as I entered the woods I saw nothing besides the trees, but I continued my search anyway. The day passed and night fell. I had only seen traces of the existence that there existed life in the woods. But I refused to go back until I had something of value.
And so, I collected some sticks and made a meager fire. It burned dimly in the night as I laid my back against a tree trunk.
Then I heard the sweet whisperings come from the darkness. They said that if I went to them I would be free and loved. That I could stay with them forever and they would teach me how to live, all I had to do was follow the sound of their voice.
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That sweet melodic sounding voice.
I knew not to trust something like that but it just sounded so nice.
I just had to at least see who it was.
So, I got up and I wandered the woods as I listened to that voice.
I have no idea how long I followed the voice's instructions but I did until I collapse in front of a grand tree and a beautiful lady scantily clad in the vines and leaves that hung on the tree.
I never woke up again.
I know and feel like I was alive for a time after that as I recall the feeling of a haze I was in. But as I reflect on it now I realize quite a few things. I realized that as I wandered the woods the sky changed from dark to light and then back too dark more than once. I realized that the Boss was probably the one who found and stole the materials that I had gathered. I realized that everything is capable of manipulation and that any and all weakness found can be used against you.
The memory of this life has taught me much. I need to be more apprehensive with those I interact with. I know that I’m being used right now in the situation I’m currently in but I can choose how I interact with those around me.
Even if the only ones I can interact with are AI and the system…
Maybe I don’t need to keep this life's experiences in mind quite as much right now but I’m sure I’m going to need that information eventually. I just need to think more than I did in that life, there were other options I just didn’t know that and wouldn’t allow myself to see that. And because of that, I got myself captured by a lady in the woods.
This life also expanded my understanding between genders…
I preferred my first life over this other one though. But it was my life and I can not nor will I deny its existence.
This is who I am so I must accept this new piece into myself. Every detail of my past makes me more whole.
And as I look at all my memories laid out before me I realize that the universe doesn't care much about me.
It’s unfortunate that I can’t mess with it since I’m locked up here.
“Hhhuuuuuuu, I’m back at the recurring impasse in my life, dumb cell.”
WealEtEsDaUnlaCossntetImUorLiph
MabooTrinkObutDuengWitAhDunginEsSoupusdDaDuIndMakMuunstaUndXpadeUorDooman
“System did you talk to Demon recently?”
KnuEtEsInphamotinGandAssRisedntsResedEnSistimEnfluenc
“Well I don’t promise to do that, but why tell me this?”
AssYueDivlopSueDuseSistim
UndIefMuunstazEgsiztSistimCunUosTemDuoDivlopAssWeal
Well, that's interesting. I didn’t know that system grew according to my growth. So that means system is completely dependent on me for its development. I can control whether or not it will develop purely off of my needs and desires or the desires of the monsters that I could make inhabit the confines of the generator.
I am the only thing in systems influence and now that I know that I am the only thing that allows it to grow, its development is under my complete control. So how can I use that to my advantage?
What can system do for me?
Hhhuuummmmmm...
Well, now that I’ve thought about it for a bit I’ve realized that system really can’t do much to help me right now. I mean it can tell me about myself…
Kind of…
Not really…
So, I guess there really isn’t a reason to try and manipulate system for my own benefit…
Well AI will wake up eventually and then I’ll work on manipulating it. AI has a lot more control of its situation then I do of mine I feel. So that means that AI could help me get out of this fairly easily.
But I knew this and have been working on it for quite some time in a passive manner. I mean really AI and I have a very weak relationship right now and no matter what I do I can’t really threaten it or do anything to it. I’ll figure something out while I wait for AI’s return.
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