Occatus continued smiling as she gazed into the seemingly impossible realm drifting beyond them. Endless fragments of worlds floated through the darkness while distant stars shimmered within Junkyard's vast expanse.
Occatus finally clapped her hands together.
"Oh!"
The System froze, and then pointed at Wren.
"I forgot."
Wren was beginning to notice a pattern.
"The reincarnation?"
"The reincarnation."
Silence.
"The only reason I'm here?"
"Exactly!"
Wren sighed.
Occatus looked unapologetic but before she could think about complaining, golden windows suddenly unfolded around them.
[REINCARNATION INITIALIZATION]
[SOUL ANALYSIS IN PROGRESS...]
The cheerful atmosphere vanished surprisingly quickly.
Occatus leaned forward. Her eyes narrowed. Then narrowed further.
"Oh."
Wren immediately did not like that.
"What?"
The System continued reading, then another warning appeared.
[WARNING]
[VOID CORRUPTION DETECTED]
Occatus winced.
"That's going to complicate things."
Wren's stomach sank. "Complicate?"
"A little." The woman paused. "A lot."
That felt more honest. Golden text continued scrolling, then suddenly stopped. Occatus froze. Actually froze. The System stared at the display. Then read it again. Then a third time. "...Impossible." Wren looked up. "Is that really...?"
Occatus pointed. A new message had appeared.
[EXTERNAL CORE ENERGY SOURCE DETECTED]
[IDENTITY: EARTH SYSTEM CORE]
Silence followed. A very long silence. Even Occatus' smile vanished.
"What does that mean?"
The System slowly looked toward her, then back at the display. Then back to her again.
"That explains how you survived."
Wren blinked. "Survived what?"
"The journey."
Occatus pointed vaguely toward the darkness surrounding Junkyard.
"Well..Theres a reason souls don't usually reincarnate into other universes. They usually cannot handle traveling the void. Not only that but my universe is extremely isolated." Her voice had become much quieter."
"The Void surrounding it is violent enough that things simply don't make it here."
"But I did.."
"You did."
The System stared at the screen, then slowly shook her head.
"Because your universes system gave you its core."
Wren frowned.
"I don't know what that means."
For the first time since meeting her, Occatus looked genuinely serious. Occatus seemed genuinely unsure of how to explain it. "A System Core isn't a reserve of mana or energy."
"It isn't extra mana."
"It isn't a tool."
The System hesitated, then spoke carefully.
"The Core is the System."
Wren froze.
Occatus pointed toward the screen.
"Everything a System is, becomes compressed into a single structure. Its records. Its authority. Its administrative functions. Its identity. The entire thing."
Her voice grew quieter.
"System Cores are made from impossibly dense mana."
Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!
"The purest form possible."
The report continued scrolling.
Occatus kept staring.
A strange expression crossed her face.
"Just what happened over there?" She said as she stared at Wren with a complicated look on her face. The question wasn't directed at Wren. It wasn't really directed at anyone.
"Your System was young."
Her brows furrowed. "Far too young, a few billion years at most."
She looked back toward the report, then shook her head.
"Young Systems don't willingly give up their cores."
Another pause.
"No Systems do."
Wren looked down at the faint golden light surrounding her soul.
The Earth System. Its final messages surfaced in her memory. Formal. Precise. Machine-like. Probability reports. Status updates. Failure notices. None of it had sounded emotional. None of it had sounded human.
Occatus seemed to reach the same conclusion.
"That's the strange part."
Wren looked up.
"The strange part?"
"It wasn't a person." The woman stared at the report.
"It wasn't sentimental."
"It wasn't acting emotionally."
The confusion in her voice deepened. "It made a decision." Something about those words landed differently.
Systems weren't people. Not really. They were functions. Processes. Administrators. And yet...
"Something must have happened," Occatus murmured with her brows furrowed. "It knew there was no hope of recovery, even in the future..."
No rebuilding.
No preservation.
No archives.
Nothing.
The System slowly shook her head.
"Once a Core leaves its universe, there's no going back." Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
She looked toward the golden light wrapped around Wren's soul.
"It must have known that."
For a few moments, neither spoke.
The silence lingered.
Then Occatus seemed to remember something.
"Oh."
That word had become concerning.
"The good news."
"There is good news?"
"There is."
The smile returned.
"You're carrying enough mana from the core to support an excellent vessel."
Then the golden windows surrounding them suddenly shifted.
New messages appeared.
[REINCARNATION INITIALIZATION]
[SYSTEM CORE DETECTED]
[BEGINNING VESSEL CREATION...]
Occatus visibly relaxed.
"Well, that's good."
"What is?"
"You."
That wasn't helpful.
The System pointed at the glowing mass of golden mana surrounding Wren's soul.
"Normally with this much mana from the core you would be able to customize things. Species. Traits. Appearance. The usual reincarnate options."
A pause. Wait she would actually get to choose what she reincarnates as?! This is the dream!
"Unfortunately."
Wren immediately didn't like that word.
Another message appeared.
[WARNING]
[VOID CORRUPTION DETECTED]
[MANUAL CUSTOMIZATION OVERRIDDEN]
The golden text flashed
Then flashed again.
Occatus winced.
"Oh."
"What?"
"This is where I apologize."
Wren stared.
The woman smiled weakly.
"The Void corruption is interfering."
A few more windows appeared.
[EXTREME VOID CORRUPTION DETECTED]
[RESTRICTING SPECIES DATABASE]
[SEARCHING FOR COMPATIBLE VESSEL...]
"That seems bad."
"It could be worse."
The System paused.
Then corrected herself.
"It has been worse before, but at least you have the core."
That wasn't reassuring.
At all.
Occatus quickly pointed toward the glowing mana surrounding Wren.
"The good news is you're carrying a ridiculous amount of mana. An absurd amount, actually. The System Core alone is enough to create an excellent vessel."
The scrolling warnings continued.
For once, Occatus seemed more curious than worried.
"Am I going to be okay..?"
"Yeah?"
"The corruption isn't dangerous, is it?" Wren asked nervously.
"Well"
The System immediately held up a finger.
"Nothing too dangerous."
That sounded suspicious.
"I mean the corruption itself."
Seeing her confusion, Occatus thought for a moment.
"Imagine taking a fish from one pond and dropping it into a completely different pond."
Wren waited.
"The water is different."
"Okay."
"The temperature is different."
"Yeah?"
"The chemistry is different."
"Uh huh..."
Occatus smiled.
"The fish gradually adapts."
Wren frowned.
"I don't think I'm a fish."
"That's not the important part."
Then the woman pointed toward the darkness surrounding them.
"Void corruption works similarly."
That sounded concerning.
"The Void surrounding one universe exists under different laws than the Void surrounding another. Most void corruption naturally destabilizes when it enters a foreign universe, because it's made up of void essence not the actual void itself. While the void essence itself will adapt and change to fit the universe so it can return to the void, the corruption can't."
"The corruption attached to your soul doesn't belong here. Think of it as the fish can adapt, but the parasites inside it cannot."
Another pause.
"So it should destabilize and eventually wash away."
Wren relaxed slightly.
"Then what's the problem?"
Occatus pointed toward her.
"You have to survive long enough for that to happen."
Wren immediately stopped relaxing.
"The corruption needs a vessel that can handle the burden."
The woman glanced back toward the windows.
"And finding one that not only can handle the corruption, but one that is compatible with your soul appears to be causing issues."
That couldn't be good.
The species database had started moving.
Fast.
Very fast.
Thousands of names appeared.
Then vanished.
Another list appeared.
Gone.
Another.
Gone.
Entire categories of species disappeared almost instantly. Humanoids. Elementals. Spirits. Dragons. Everything vanished.
Occatus tilted her head.
"Huh."
The searching continued. The list grew smaller. And smaller. And smaller. Until only a handful remained.
Then those vanished too.
For the first time, Occatus looked genuinely nervous.
That got Wren's attention immediately.
"Is something wrong?"
"Probably not."
That wasn't a reassuring answer.
The system searched again. Thousands of possibilities.
Eliminated.
Hundreds.
Eliminated.
Dozens.
Eliminated.
Then silence. The windows froze.
Neither spoke.
A final message slowly appeared.
[COMPATIBLE SPECIES FOUND]
The text expanded.
Occatus leaned forward. Then further. Then her eyes widened.
"...What?"
Wren looked toward the screen.
[SPECIES SELECTED: PRIMORDIAL VAMPIRE]
Silence filled the Void. Wren blinked. Then blinked again. She read it a second time. Then a third.
"...A vampire?"
Occatus was still staring.
"A primordial vampire."
Wren continued staring.
"...A vampire." I really get to become a vampire?!
The System slowly looked toward her. For a moment, neither spoke. Then Wren felt excitement bubbling up. "A real vampire?" Occatus pointed accusingly at the screen.
"That is not the important part."
"It kind of is."
"It absolutely is not."
The woman looked back at the display. Then seemed to realize something. Then looked back again. Then one final time.
"No."
Her eyes narrowed.
"No no no."
"What?"
Occatus pointed directly at the first word.
[PRIMORDIAL]
"That."
Wren waited.
The System's expression had become increasingly bewildered.
"Not every species has a Primordial."
"What does that mean?"
"It means some species simply exist but others...."
That wasn't helpful.
Occatus gestured wildly.
"You see.. a primordial is the first. The original. The blueprint. The foundation. The being every future member of that species ultimately traces back to."
Wren blinked.
"...Oh."
"Primordials are absurdly rare."
The woman pointed at the display again.
"Most only appear during the birth of a universe. When reality is still experimenting. When entirely new species are being created."
The System slowly lowered her hand.
"They're not supposed to appear now."
The silence returned.
Then Wren smiled.
"So I get to be the first vampire."
Occatus buried her face in her hands.
"I've never seen someone miss the point this enthusiastically."