3 Farewell Earth, Hello Carol (Part 2)
Author: [] is for Special Languages and "" for more standard Languages, {} will be for Thought Speech.
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After spending a good few minutes, felt like weeks for some reason, our energetic MC's somewhat-unwilling companion Carol has finished his work.
[Done.]
"Dammit, I am going Insane!?" Our spectacularly thick-skinned and forgetful MC yells out in abject disbelief as a splitting pain returns to his bubble of a mind.
{Long past that point, my dear (Garbled noise)~} Teases our loyal Carol to the Idiot.
"You know I hate the fact my name is basically hearsay because of some Bu******."
{Fine but the Systems ready.}
"So, this is now becoming one of those stereotypical OP System novels huh." Our FOREVER to be unnamed MC replies as he turns over on the sofa, now facing the ceiling.
{It's not my fault it's such a good management tool for any form of Abilities.} Carol sharply makes his case.
"Haa, can't deny that." Sulks our MC.
|| Loading... ||
A monochromatic board pops up before his eyes which he then subsequently rolls in disbelief. He smugly explains. "Really? You and I both know that this is just you are just wasting my time to irritate me at this point."
{Tsk.} Our cute little Carol reluctantly stops the farce causing a large blue screen displaying a large 3D net with a text box to the side before our MC.
"That's it? Just a generic 3D Net interface?" He disappointingly replies.
{The hardest part of manipulating Gaic comes from the Visualization aspect. The text box is just a record of an objects more... special features. The hard part was actually forming the Limiter.}
"Wait. Limiter?" Questions our MC.
{Yeah. Your body may have a high compatibility with it but that doesn't mean it can withstand the energy pumping through your body. Adding the Limiter prevents edits to your own body from overwhelming it and making you explode.} Reasons Carol.
"Awh, I definitely wanted to die by my own hands in a such a glorious way." Sarcastically responds our MC. "Jokes aside though what about using it on other people? Wouldn't trying to manipulate Gaic on them cause them to explode."
{Well, there are two reasons for that: The first being that it is much easier to control external energy than internal; the second being that your compatibility works against you in this case. The more energy in your body the more energy wants to enter your body, without fine control you'd quickly lose control of the ever-growing wave of energy attracted to you. Honestly if I never showed up your organs would've likely collapsed under the strain of the ever-growing amount of energy within you.}
He leans back against the sofa's armrest in thought. "Damn. I've really been ignorant huh."
{Yeah.} They softly reply.
Our MC lets out a coarse smile and speaks. "Oh well then I'll try not to be such an A** in the future, K."
Carol gently replies. {I'll hold you to that then.}
He slowly gets up from the sofa and claps his hands together in anticipation. "So then how do I do this thing?"
A small Chibi avatar with short cut black hair, green eyes and a black cloak draping over the rest of the body pops out in front of the System Interface (AN: probably referred to as SI from now on). This avatar, Carol, then starts to talk. {Depends, what do you want to try first? Creation, Editing, Management or do you want me to randomly do something... Interesting.}
Our MC shivers slightly at the last one. "First things first what even am I capable of?"
With a deadpan face Carol says. {No clue.}
"How the hells is that useful!?"
Carol shrugs at this. {I know vaguely what Gaic can do, though it generally is only as capable as the user. And you don't exactly inspire 'great capability'.}
Sighing our MC then states. "Then what's the use of those suggestions from just a second ago?"
{That's what I could do.} They conjure out a chair and sit on it. {So that's all I could even teach you in the first place. Even if you 'Naturally' can't manipulate Gaic that way you can still learn how to use it as such, just takes a lot more effort that way.}
"Fine then, let's start with where it always starts: Creation." At this Carol stands (more like 'bops') up from the chair and a Chalkboard appears.
{Creation is both the easiest and the most challenging of the three.} Carol draws a large circle before filling it with square, they then label the square as Editing, the circle's edge as Creation, and the gaps in between as Management. {It also is the most universal: Creation is the framework upon which the other two are built. The other two though are more complex in practice, both requiring you to form a connection with either the Object you're Editing or the Gaic energy in the air to work on Management. In reality all three are fairly Simple, in theory.}
"While you're explaining things can you elaborate on that last point from earlier?" He hesitantly asks forth the source of the growing unease within him.
{Soon... Soon you'll see.} And Carol's sadistic smile definitely helped this unease. {Anyway-} They cough slightly. {Creation consists of four steps: Gather, Shape, Realize and Release. First you Gather the Gaic energy needed for the Creation, then you gradually Shape it into the target Item. These two steps can be repeated in this order an infinite number of times, however once you Realize an Item there is no returning, got it?}
"Yes. Gather energy into an Item's Shape, once Realized though the Shape is fixed." Our actually competent MC nods gently.
{Somewhat true. You can change its Shape afterwards it just requires using the Editing ability to do so. Anyway, the SI shows you the intended Shape/ Properties, just imagine on it and the energy needed for Creation will naturally Gather and Shape in turn.} Carol gestures over at the SI, seemingly suggesting trying it out.
Our MC then closes his eyes (AN: He can still 'see' the SI regardless as the SI doesn't technically exist) and focuses solely on the SI and his Intended Item, a Bracelet. A dull grey Bracelet around four centimetres in diameter, adorned with a single red spherical gem sticking out of the thin metal barely three millimetres from the base. He Imagines its Properties next: it can open 'Gates' or Portals on an objects surface that either create a 'hole' through the object to the other side; or if outlining a 'Door' or 'Window' it can create a Portal to a location of the users' choice. Both of these features are activated by lightly pressing their fingers against the red gem then outlining the Gates on the object with said Fingers, he also added a limit so that no one but the person who drops their blood into the gem first can use it from then on.
While he's focusing on this an outside observer could've seen a soft white energy gathering a foot from his temple. This energy wraps around itself as the Bracelet quickly forms from, seemingly, nothing. At this the one actual observer nods proudly. {Seems he isn't totally useless after all.} They then directly tell our MC. {Quickly now before it loses its form wrap a 'net' of Gaic around the Bracelet. This should stabilize it and prevent it losing its Properties.}
Before the MC could even react to the first statement, he rapidly follows Carol's guide. He threads thin Gaic energy around the Bracelet wrapping around and smothering it like blanket, though this energy soon dissipates, and the Item falls back into instability. After a good ten minute of back and forth between the energy threads and our MC the subtle jerking of the Item fades leaving a singular Bracelet dotted in what appears to be a lattice of threads each supporting the rest in holding the Item together.
His eyes snap open at this as he lets out deep breaths from the sheer mental stress of ,what he now knows as, Realizing the Item. Carol lightly applauds this victory. {Congratulations, you just took a step, one of many, into this new world... Your new World.}
"Damn." Lightly reaching out and caressing the Bracelet he says. "I made this. I Made This."
Overcome with nostalgia Carol gently smiles. {The first of many, hopefully. Now enough moping around, next up is Editing.} Our MC looks up attentively. {Wait. Almost forgot, cut those Gaic strings you've got linking you to that Bracelet of yours.}
Snapping out of his fervour he broadens his senses outward towards the object in his hands, something much easier now he has experienced sensing and controlling Gaic (albeit with assistance from Carol/ SI) and finds a series of subtle threads linking to himself. Upon snapping them apart Carol continues. {First things first, now relink yourself to them.}
"Then why the Hells did you have me disconnect them in the first place?" Replies our slightly exhausted MC.
{Simple, disconnecting them is the Release part of Creation. Editing works in reverse, you need to connect to the Strings then remove them before reshaping the Item in reverse to the Creation process.} Carol bluntly states.
Whilst glaring sharply at Carol's avatar, our MC reluctantly removes the last ten minutes of work from the Bracelet before changing the colour of the gem to Purple.
Carol then removes the Chalkboard before calmly saying. {Good. Now release your control over the Item.}
"Wait what! Wouldn't that cause it to destabilize like before?" Confusedly replies our MC.
Softly shrugging, Carol replies. {From what I know Gaic naturally recalls its prior states, to an extent at least, it will just naturally reform the threads upon release. Though that was before...}
After a good few seconds of thought our MC finally retracts his control of the Bracelet and just as it seems it would collapse the subtle Threads reappear atop the Item causing it to be restored seemingly as if nothing had ever occurred. At this he lets out a stressful sigh. "Well, that was... Tiring."
{Oh, we aren't done yet.} Shaking his oversized head Carol continues with a gradually growing grin. {While you are nowhere near capable enough to even attempt Management yet, you still have my 'Special' training to go. Though I will say this, you have 24 hours to prepare. After this deadline I will begin the 'Trials', be ready for anything. Also don't worry-} They let out a large menacing smile at this point, a smile of what our MC would later refer to as the core inspiration for the Devil's appearance. {You can't die from mortal wounds due to the amount of Gaic running through you. The only thing that could actually even injure you at this point is me dropping a few nukes directly on your head anyway~.}
That was the beginning of Carols Training Camp of Self Improvement (AN: of Death) and our MC's screams of joy. (AN: ...)
