Arthur Slate sat cross legged on his bed. He drank the special mushroom tea 30 min ago, now he was supposed to doze and meditate or lucid dream. He couldn''t remember, he breathed and.... With a curse Arthur opened his eyes, and glanced around the room until his eyes fell upon his desk where a quartz crystal sat next to some hand made device he’d built off the internet. Supposedly this device would magnify the state which the crystal resonated at and it would create connection to the same location in the ‘Astral’ sort of like the old Phreaker party lines from the pre cellphone pre internet days. The Astral was a space layered over reality where one''s consciousness could wander without one''s body. This crystal was harvested with several others from a specially grown quartz crystal tuned to a Specific frequency. He picked the thing up and placed it on the cradle, and connected the nine volt battery to the device. He turned to go back to his bed, completely unaware that one of the internal parts had been soldered in reverse. Waves began to populate throughout the astral rather than pinging a resonant bubble like all the others taking part in this experiment. Unbeknownst to Arthur something detected his signal.


    --------


    System Prototype: Ark ‘Spark’ propelled itself through the void that is the astral; a limitless space devoid of Aether. Having skirted two black holes collapsing into each other and been pulled through a rip in physical reality into the astral. It flew aimless for millions of years. it was designed to harness ambient forces created at the birth of a universe and apply system protocols to guide the development under that greater universal system, a web of universes connected by Aetheric pathways to funnel Aether evenly across the multiverse and regulate the power of the beings within in order to stop the rise of new gods. With the last dregs of its internal energy Spark leapt at the kernel of Aether that floated at the origin point of the signal.


    --------


    Arthur awoke in the astral, deep… far deeper than he’d been before. No warped mirror of reality, no ground no, creatures or entities. The truth was that Arthur had been to the Astral many times in his life. Though mostly as vivid lucid dreams and a sense that reality had far more layers. Questions that no religion could answer, like there was more. He had a knack for electronics working around him when they shouldn''t, his aura in those special photographs you could get at alternative spirituality shops was a blaze when he let it flare unchecked, but he could also control its shape..


    This little crystal excursion was exciting because he would be fully lucid, and if everything worked like theorized, there would be other people and the experience wouldn''t feel like a fever dream that never faded. All of his memories from his astral jaunts seemed faded and hazy. Even though he could still recall the details.


    Just as he began to look around and wonder if something went wrong. A spark flitted into his astral form, unlike normal his sphere of effect was an area where his will came into effect often times raising his speed or perception, perhaps even stopping a foe or creature in their tracks if they felt weaker than him; did nothing to slow the spark before it reached the center of his spiritual being. With a *Ding* that was Perceived rather than heard; a message formed in a text box floating in his plane of vision.


    *****


    System Prototype: Ark. catalyzed…


    Defusing aetheric kernel…


    Aetheric kernel insufficient to facilitate universal system…


    Error…


    System processing…


    Secondary protocol initiated…


    Demi plane creation successful…


    Attaching to the host spirit…


    Caretaker protocol initiated…


    *****


    At first Arthurs center went cold, then a pain shot through his entire spiritual being. He began to scream; silently in the void of the deep astral. The pain became a burning; like a nuclear reaction just went off in his chest, and then everything went black.


    When Arthur awoke he felt strange, both hollow and more somehow. Like he now had more potential. But he was pulled out of his thoughts with another Ding. A window appeared.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    ****


    Physical vessel lacks Etheric pathways recalibrating…


    Spirit stabilized…


    Matter reserves sufficient to create a new vessel…


    Crafting new vessel…


    Maintaining genetic connections…


    Adapting etheric pathways…


    Error. Ether deemed too destructive…


    Crafting body with mana pathways…


    Form stabilizing…


    *****


    And then the Window blinked out, and floating in the darkness somehow lit was a genderless form, no hair, androgynous. But he had read litrpg, wuxia, and sundry other books under the lit umbrella. He was also versed in video games, and this was a character creation screen. And he just integrated with a system.


    “System?” He tried to vocalize but He had no physical form with which to speak. His intent must have been enough, because something did happen; a glowing mote of light blipped into existence in front of him.


    “Does the caretaker require assistance?” its voice was chipper and leaned towards an electric nasal just on the masculine side of neutral.


    He floated there for a second before he realized he could neither blink, nor look around. “Yes. i need help with this whole rebuilding my body thing…Am i dead?”


    The orb of light flickered and then responded. “As to your second question, your essence is being maintained and not recycled, we only need to assemble a more fitting vessel to house your essence. And to that end I can assist. From your memories and knowledge the best way to describe me would be a genus loci or a world spirit. These are terms from your fictions that you understand well enough. Now on to the task at hand. I can recreate your physical appearance.”


    with a ripple the hairless androgynous form that floated in the void before us took on Arthurs naked physical form. Mid back length brown hair blue eyes, scruffy beard, overweight, tall.


    “Is this your earthly appearance?” The voice asked.


    He tried to nod, despite not having a physical form. After it didn''t respond he spoke up. “Yeah… that''s me. What can I change?”


    The spark bobbed for a moment and responded “Any and everything, I am even pre programmed with the building blocks for countless other races species across several different universes. though a lot of those, are from places with much richer energy and thus would suffer if they were to propagate in an environment with such low energy density.”


    Arthur paused to think, “will this reset the telomeres in my body? Like, am I going to live longer now?”


    The light orb scoffed. “yes it will… in fact, as the caretaker, as long as your soul isn''t completely destroyed and there is enough energy to convert to matter, you are functionally immortal.”


    Arthur blanked out for a few moments. “ok let''s drop 120 lbs. to tone up the physique… Abs yes. Pecs… also yes. Keep the hair and beard… Can you give me a genetic rundown? I want to fix any genetic disorders that might run in my genes.”


    The ball of light flickered “don''t bother With that, the system will straighten that all out. All right now the last step will be to imprint your first Talent On your mana core.”


    “Do I get a list?” Arthur asked. The ball of light made an audible inhaling noise and…” no.” Arthur paused, “what do you mean no? How am I supposed to pick a Talent if there is no skill list?” The ball bobbed in place for a beat before saying. “You must design it. For now I only know as much about your culture as you do, But as time goes by I will naturally Propagate talents.


    Arthur wanted to shake his head and blink at that statement. “Can you read my mind?” The ball bobbed “well yes, I can… but I just read your soul. It''s all decipherable data to my magnificent self…”


    Arthur Was silent for several minutes as he thought over the several large bombs that were just dropped on his head. Before he had an idea… An idea for an ability. “Spark? Can I call you Spark?”


    The orb pulsed… “That designation is sufficient.”


    Arthur continued “what are the ramifications of this initial Talent?”


    “Hold the concept in your mind.” after a moment the Spark bobbed a nod. "mm…good…it aligns with your affinities… versatile. Hmm not combat focused, rare for your species. Complete.”


    With a jolt the body shook and despite not being in it yet, he felt the power coarse up his spine and shoulders, then up his neck into his eyes and skull. In his mind''s eye he could perceive a box that he knew wasn’t physically there, but it appeared floating in the air.


    *****


    Congratulations you have unlocked your first Talent:


    Caloric Completion:


    This talent is of the Space\Time affinity


    this talent allows the user to burns the


    amount of calories an action would


    take to complete and complete it


    Instantly, however the user must understand


    an action from start to finish


    in order to use it. this gift came with


    an innate sense for the users


    Calorie reserves


    and another to sense how many


    calories an action would cost.


    *****