Terra Nova

Crossing through the portal made Delvin nauseous and light-headed, and being re-materialized into a shallow body of water didn't help. Del started slowly walking towards a nearby tree, his body aching in pain and screaming at him to lie down.

Delvin started convulsing the moment he exited the water causing him to fall on the weirdly-coloured forest floor. Shortly after, he started violently coughing and spasming; before long he started coughing blood, red blood, blue blood, pink blood...

As Del was shivering and vomiting his body started changing, the "hourglass man" visage started disappearing as his body lit up from the inside with a searing pain that was present in every part of his body. Delvin's physical appearance was modified during his stay at the butler's as a means of preserving his identity and safety.

The first thing he noticed was the chestnut coloured hair growing out again, unkempt and spiralling to his rather broad shoulders. Del could feel his skeleton expanding, and every ounce of strength was used to keep himself from descending to madness from the pain. His bones were grinding against one another and they produced unnerving and unnatural sounds while blood freely flowed from every orifice in his body he even felt his organs shifting and the muscles following suit to adapt to his new constitution.

Delvin passed out shortly after as the pain reached a soul-crushing intensity, and he wasn't awake to notice the pulse of pure Essence that rushed from his core.

This pulse signalled the end of the transformation, and thee effect was readily apparent. Delvin grew three inches in height while his face (which resembled Matt's during his visit to the butler) shifted and sifted for minutes until adapting a new look.

His eyes changed colour from a murky brown to a blue-sky colour. His nose became shorter and sharper; a sharp contrast to his new cheekbones which were highlighted and pronounced, giving him a look of maturity.

The greatest change was in his muscle mass. During his recuperation period(in Matt's body), Devin's muscles grew in mass and definition, his abs were readily apparent and his entire physique was rather pronounced. He could thank the daily workouts and exercises for that.

Nearly all those muscles were now gone and Del looked much like a person who had just turned 20 and had visited the gym three times, only to give up after the first try. His looks weren't shabby, but his physique would require work.

After some time Delvin finally woke up, he staggered to his feet using a close by tree branch to support his weakened body. He took a few deep breaths while inspecting his new body, a few short moments later he remembered the piece of cyberware within him and the escapade it had instructed him to carry out.

"Meri, I've done as you asked, can I finally check out my system interface?" Delvin said to himself, the memory of the first words he heard upon awakening were still palpable in his mind.

---

*Back in the butler's domain

As the orb opened up with a *click sound, Delvin was jolted awake in his hourglass form.

His mental state was in disarray but he heard a voice coming from deep within his soul.

[Delvin! Awake at last.] A cold, female robotic voice echoed within very being.

[If you don't recognize my voice don't worry, we will chat again soon and I will explain everything. I can sense your mental distress and I understand, but until we find a way to leave this person's domain you will have to hold off on asking any questions and follow everything I instruct. Now listen closely…]

---

[Delvin, you should've been an actor! That butler has no idea where we came from or where we currently are which gives us some breathing room to get started in this new place.] The robotic female voice didn't sound as cold and distant as she did back on the bare island.

Before Delvin could ask what she meant by "he has no idea where we currently are" Meri continued with her explanation.

[In a few minutes, your body, mana core and Essence will start adapting to this new planet allowing your system to finally boot up. At that point you will be bombarded by the same introductory messages every new addition to the System receives, read them carefully!] Meri paused before continuing.

[Masking and altering your presence from that butler, coupled with destroying the arcane sequence of nearly a 100 portals drained nearly all the resources contained in this small piece of me. It is paramount I enter a short recovery period during which I will not be able to assist you in any way, shape or form.] The final sentence contained a hint of emotion.

[My calculations estimate I will have to be offline for the next 2 weeks, during which you will be on your own; remember what the butler said: Grow in strength! This planet, call-signed: Earth1 has been experiencing it's first Awakening for the past 3 days. When the clock hits noon, the planet will have officially passed the first terraforming phase and a surge of mana will change many living and unliving organisms.] Meri paused for a longer this time round, hinting at her growing struggle to stay online.

[T-there are safe zones… will be removed shortly. Try to locate one after the clock strikes noon, essence… given by slaying others…] The supercomputer barely made sense by the end.

[Different hierarchy… adapt… tier… echo…] Those were the last words Delvin was going to hear from the supercomputer for some time.

Taking a seat to digest what the supercomputer said allowed Delvin to take a look at his surroundings; they could be explained in a few short words.

Tree. Tree. Tree.

And then some more trees.

The one just above him towered over the rest, it's many branches curving around one another in a spectacle of flexibility and glamour, providing the forest with plenty of shade from the sun.

"Looks like I'm in some dense forest." He thought as he noticed bushes and plants of various sizes growing around the roots of this gigantic tree.

"Hmm, that looks like a Maypier plant, but it's petals are dark-gold not this bright pink." Del thought as he caressed the petals of a nearby flower.

That's right. All of the plant life; trees, flowers, bushes and branches were coloured in different variations of pink.

Pink leaves housed on pinky branches connected to a pale-pink tree trunk.

Delvin sighed and started forming a plan.

Before he could do that though, he was interrupted by a most welcome sound.

*DING*

[Essence reserves replenished]

[Commencing System reboot!]

"OOOH YES! FINALLY" Delvin couldn't contain his excitement, a crazed smile formed on his face and he nearly broke into a dance but his body was too weak for sporadic movement. He settled for a raised fist and a joy-filled proclamation

"STATUS! Give me my staaatus."

---

[STATUS]

Name: Delvin Mayes

Age: ???

Race: Half-Human (Android)

Title: Death-defiant

Trait(s): Neo(???), Comprehensive Analysis(???)

Level: 0 (0/100%)

Class: -/-

Subclass: -/-

Health: 22/22

Mana: 73/73

Stamina: 34/34

Stats: No available SP

STR: 10

AGI: 8

VIT: 2

END: 6

INT: 13 (-5)

WIS: 8 (-5)

PER: 6

LCK: N/A

---

Looking through his stats, Delvin was stunned. Firstly, it appeared he wasn't human anymore but an Android; Del guessed this happened due to a certain piece of technology in his mana core.

The question marks next to his age were the most familiar part of his status page as even Delvin can't remember how old he is due to the gaps in his memory.

These stats were also new to him, back on his home planet(it's name still evaded Del's recollection) people only had three different stats, one for their mana, one for their health and the final was for their physical prowess.

"Having 2 VIT and minus five in two stats doesn't seeming good, does it? What even are these traits? And this title, talk about ominous wording, what does Death-defiant even mean?" Delvin was bamboozled.

Del remembered that back on his home planet (it's name still lost in his mind) they only had three different stats, one for physical parameters, one for mana, and one for overall health.

Before analysing what each of these unfamiliar stats influenced, Del decided to find out what his title meant

---

<Death-defiant> (Primary Title)

Effect: Taking lethal damage invokes the Death-defiant title.

Cooldown: 7 years

Description: Given to those who have felt the cold embrace of death(more than once) and have lived to tell the tale

---

"What's up with this description? The only thing I know is that it can be used once every seven years and that it was given to me by avoiding death, but I haven't died more than once??" Del's thoughts were jumbled and chaotic and he needed a minute to breathe.

A minute which he would not be given as a torrential downpour of notifications entered his vision.

*DING*

*DING*

*DING*