P-System Log

With the theories I have--and I know those are only conjecture, but I've been operating off of less than that for a long time--there's a lot of shit I need to try.

For one, I'm fairly certain that I'm a bastard mixture between what I once was and what the R System (Eternal King, whatever, I don't care) is right now. I'm not quite free of good ol' Origin's influence yet, but I can do far more than it allows me to.

How close am I to achieving Origin's capabilities? I have huge amounts of W Inertia and unlimited ways to use it, but I don't know whether that means I can mimic the stuff it's been doing to me so far. The easiest thing to do, I think, is the memory modification. There's a number of new capabilities that are practically screaming at me just around now, and this is something that I'm pretty sure I've always been to do--I've just never had the W Inertia for it.

Well, it's no more than a skill effect, right? I'll just have to mimic that.

Here goes nothing. Fuck me, I've said that all too many times.

Hero's Personal Log 099 Hey, P-System, you alright? Nothing's been happening, and the mana's starting to feel weird. P-Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: Testing, testing.

[Arcs S'tar]: I hear you.

[Jerome Smith]: The P-System's gone silent. I'm not the only one feeling the weirdness, right?

[P-System]: Parker. It's Parker.

[Jerome Smith]: Oh, shit. Is everything alright? Wait, you have a name?

[P-System]: Is everybody present?

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Here.

[Arcs S'tar]: Yep.

[Aster K'lon]: I am present.

[Jerome Smith]: You know it.

[P-System]: What is my name?

[Aster K'lon]: You possess a name?

[Jerome Smith]: I don't think you've said anything about that.

P-System Log

Oh my.

Okay, that's definitely progress. I can redact things, which... honestly, isn't that useful. Also, it was probably not that ethical to test it on the people I'm a System for, but I did save their lives on multiple occasions. I don't think I'm hurting them too bad, at least. Memories are tricky, but all I did was repress the last few instants. I'm sure I could redact more if I wanted to, but for now it's just me experimenting. It's not like I really want to limit the amount of information that my party has, after all. Ideally, we have all the information all the time.

On the other hand, being able to un-redact things... that's a different story. Obviously, I'm a System, which means that I run into more issues that would result in redaction, but I can't imagine that someone as well-learned as Aster or as world-weary as Arcs would go through their entire lives without ever fbumping into anything that the System saw fit to eradicate from their minds.

Let's see if I can do that. In theory, it should just be manipulating W Inertia in the opposite direction of the redaction method, which is easy. Right?

Right?

[Apotheosis] Anti-redaction successful. P-System Log

Hmm. That resolved the most recent block I made, but it was a little irritatingly inefficient and targeted. If searching through their memories to redact a particular event from years ago is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, trying to anti-redact a memory that they'd gotten wiped is like trying to find the absence of a needle in a haystack that was chock full of them.

Okay, that metaphor fell apart at the end, but you get the point. Heh. I say you like someone's reading this. If someone is, it's not the Origin System, I hope. [Apotheosis] seems to be an extension of my own will in the way that it's totally blocking out any attempts that that fucker's making to try to reach me.

Besides the point, of course. The thing I was actually trying to get at is that anti-redaction only works if I know what I'm trying to override--well, I suppose if I was extremely smart or extremely lucky I could find something else, but I'm neither--and while that worked for the memories of the second part of the conversation we just had since I knew exactly what I overrode, it probably won't work for any of the fuckery that Origin's worked into their brains. My unique--not [Unique], but something else entirely--skill removed the blocks from me, but I am and always have been a special case. I don't think I can do the equivalent of brain surgery for someone else.

What do you believe our next steps should be? P-System Broadcast I think that our next steps are no longer as obvious as they were. Up to this point, we have largely progressed by traveling from city to city, dungeon to dungeon, and slowly gathering people and power-ups. After this dungeon, though, the paradigm has shifted. The difference between then and now is night and day. P-Party Chat

[Jerome Smith]: Yeah, ain't that the truth. Look at how fuckin' powerful we all are now.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Agreed with the newbie for once. The P-System is far more powerful than I had thought anything could be.

[Aster K'lon]: I would listen to the P-System.

This one has no objections. I seek not just to survive but to seek the furthest advancement of my power. I would return to my former glory. P-System Log

Oh man, if that's not a red flag I don't know what is. Can you call a statement from a green box a red flag? Probably.

That sounds like it's going to stab me in the back whenever it gets the chance to. Like, obviously it could try to restore the G System or whatever it called itself to its former glory by, I dunno, taking the R System's framework after it kills the Eternal King, but I doubt it'll do that when there's a far easier target.

I'm sitting right here, and the only thing stopping Greenie from overpowering me is my sheer determination. Well, that and the disgustingly large mass of W Inertia I have, but we can ignore that.

It might be paranoid to already be worrying about this thing, but after the events of the last few hours, I think it's safe to say that there's no such thing as being paranoid on this godforsaken Continent.

...shit, I can't even really call it godforsaken when it's got so many things that call themselves gods running around on it.

This started as a simple game of red versus blue, but we're in the shits now. There's a lot more complexity to this, and even if I don't end up dead at the end of it, a lot of things are. People are going to die, though that's probably a given, and if everything goes right, so will some Systems.

P-System Broadcast I suggest we enter the R System's domain. Attack its center. P-System Log That's a lie. The Eternal King seems to be a lot friendlier than I'd expected, but then it was the Origin System that told me that it was evil, not actual experience. I can't trust anything that that fucker says, huh? P-Party Chat

[Arcs S'tar]: Are you insane?

[Jerome Smith]: I mean, yeah, duh.

[Aster K'lon]: All four of us are only alive because of the P-System. I suggest we follow it. After all, we are more than strong enough to fight off any powerful monsters on our own.

[Jerome Smith]: Yeah, like, we can do damage in the five digits if necessary. We should be fine.

[P-System]: If the situation goes awry, I will do what I can in order to keep you alive and dominant.

[Arcs S'tar]: Fucking--okay, fine.

[Jerome Smith]: I see nothing wrong with the path of exceptional violence.

[P-System]: If anyone wishes to remain behind, please announce your intent to do so now. You will be cut off from my System.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: That is a strong argument indeed.

[Arcs S'tar]: Yeah, yeah, fine. Let's go. I'd like to live, but I'd like to do that without regrets. I don't think I'll be able to do that if I back out here and give all this up.

An interesting proposition. So long as you ensure this one's safety, I have no arguments. P-System Log

Maaaan, this thing talks weird. It's practically dripping malicious intent, though I'm not sure if that's because it actually has malicious subtext or because I'm seeing ghosts. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if it's the latter, but... better to be prepared for betrayal and never need to act on it than to be caught off guard and torn into my component W Inertia, right?

Wow, I'm not any better with those idioms than I am with analogies.

P-Party Chat

[Aster K'lon]: Assuming that the P-System means the actual center, I may be able to take us there.

[Jerome Smith]: Do you have the mana and skills to do so? I thought you weren't there yet.

[Aster K'lon]: Please consider your words again.

[Jerome Smith]: ...right. Sorry, I shouldn't doubt you. Or the P-System. Gotta work on that. I keep forgetting that y'all are as strong or stronger than me at this point.

[Aster K'lon]: It's fine. Is everyone ready?

[Jerome Smith]: Hell yeah.

[Arcs S'tar]: As ready as one can be when being sent off to their potential deaths.

[Thron of the Fallen Skies]: Yes.

[P-System]: Do it.

[Mass Teleport - Variant A] cast!