5 School

"That's ridiculous! Do you think that I'm a sociopathic serial killer or something! I'm too scared to even kill tiny insects let alone human beings! Besides, even if I could kill someone, I will just be thrown in jail for premeditated murder, never to see the light of day again!" Daniel shouted towards the ceiling, obviously pissed at the system's withholding such a crucial piece of information from him.

[Then I suggest Master start taking on some self-defence courses, because even if you don't want to actively seek out other binded people and assassinate them, they would come and find you instead.]

The cute tone that resounded within Daniel's mind made him feel as though he had just been looked down upon by the artificial system within his head, making him feel even more furious than before. Daniel even had the urge to smack his head against the wall a few times but managed to stop himself before incurring any injuries.

[Don't worry, Master. Since you were standing in an open area without any cover yesterday evening when I landed upon the earth, I am sure that you have absorbed a lot more pieces than other binded people, allowing you to get a head start.]

"What is that supposed to mean?" Daniel snorted, inwardly thinking that he should start and write a will for himself before it is too late.

[Since you were the only person within a 2-kilometer radius at that time, all of the meteorite fragments that landed near your location had all been absorbed by you alone. On the contrary, according to your memories, most other people are located somewhere close to a shelter to take cover, so even if they were to be unlucky enough to get struck by a meteorite fragment, it would only be one or two small fragments that will not even have the energy to awaken themselves let alone their masters. Therefore, the only people that we must look out for are the people who, like you, are stupid enough to head to the wild yesterday evening to view the celestial event before getting struck by my fragments.]

"So you're saying only people who absorbed enough fragments would get a system bounded to their bodies are a threat to me?" Daniel reconfirmed, still feeling slightly suspicious of the system after the latter just withheld crucial information from him.

[That's correct, Master. Due to the urban environment surrounding the capital city where you currently live, the number of awakened systems should be less than 10. Though, there may be thousands of people that have become infected with my fragments but lacking the energy to awaken.]

"What are we going to do with the latter then? Go on a slaughter fest?" Daniel sneered. "Looks like it's going to be impossible for me to help you after all."

[Let's just take this one step at a time, Master! Focus on retrieving the fragments that had struck against the buildings within the capital first, then we can talk about how to retrieve them from the masses afterwards. If we still can't find a solution until then, we can simply wait for the infected people to die from old age before retrieving the fragments from the morgue.]

"You seem a little too unhurried considering the fact that it's your body we're talking about. Don't you want to have it back as soon as possible?" Daniel muttered under his breath.

[Time is simply a relative construct, Master. To artificial intelligence like us, the most important goal is the preservation of our lives. Since AI systems can live within a machine or a biological entity, the only thing we are concerned about are the energy that's sustaining our lives. The main reason for retrieving the meteor fragments is to regain the energy contained within them. Unlike you humans, we don't get sentimental even if we were to lose our bodies.]

"Well noted." Daniel replied in a sarcastic tone.

***

Although it seemed as though a long time has passed, the conversation that took place between Daniel and the system took less than 15 minutes to finish since everything was done inside his head.

Now that Daniel had at least gotten a slight sense of composure from everything that had happened, he decided that he should still go to school instead of staying home to sort out all his questions. After all, if someone were to gain his records, it would look too much of a coincidence for a person who disappeared during the night of the celestial event to call for sick leave the very next day. Therefore, after changing into the standard class robe provided for by the school, Daniel headed down the apartment complex and stood by the bus station located on the third floor of the apartment building.

"The next bus towards Central will arrive in T minus 20 seconds, please mind the gap between the bus and the platform." A monotone voice resounded across the station from a speaker hanging against a lamp post.

After getting on the bus, Daniel once again spoke to the System. "Now that I think about it, how do I even start figuring out where to find your fragments? It's not like they're laying around on the ground everywhere."

[Since the entire meteorite is etched with my own energy signature, as the separate pieces of my body are within a certain range from each other, we would start to resonate and form an attraction much like that of a magnet, but on a much weaker scale.]

"You mean I will be able to sense it if a fragment is near me?" Daniel asked.

[That's correct, Master. Since your soul is binded with me, you would be able to sense the resonance with your body. The closer you get to the other fragment, the stronger you get depending on the mass of the other fragment.]

"Doesn't that mean I've turned into a beacon for all those 'awakened' hosts who want to kill me?!" Daniel almost exclaimed out loud, giving out a shocked look towards the window before him as he realized what is going to happen to him. It took all his might just to force himself to calm down and not make a scene.

"How the f**k am I supposed to be safe then when I'm literally a walking signal!" Daniel cried within his mind.

[Don't worry, Master. Since there should be less than 10 of you within this city, which spans a radius of about 500 km, I think that it's highly unlikely for two awakened hosts to meet by coincidence. If you're that worried, why don't you move to another city instead?]

"If moving to another city is as easier as you said, I would have ran away from this town already! However, all citizens in the Federation are registered to their respective cities, and to permanently move to another city requires tons of paperwork and a valid reason as well! As a normal student, what reason would I have for leaving?" Daniel sneered as though what he said was clearly obvious.

"You better be right about this, or else I'll haunt you for the rest of eternity if I die!" Daniel screamed within his mind.

***

After being struck with another piece of bad news, Daniel's mood is of course not the best, which became clearly noticeable from his expression as he arrived in the classroom. As he sat on his own desk and took out his assigned digital notepad, he could not help but give out a sigh of grief, acting as though he had just visited a funeral of a loved one.

"What happened, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed again?" A voice could be heard chuckling from behind Daniel's seat.

"Stop bothering me, Jake. I'm not in the mood right now." Daniel replied with a tone completely lacking in energy.

Jake was unfazed by the other's rudeness and simply smiled in a coaxing manner. He patted on Daniel's back and said with a mischievous voice, "Even if your VR waifu is hot AF, you shouldn't have 'worked' so hard throughout the night. Look how tired you look!"

"Who the f**k plays with VR p**n! Do you think I'm a degenerate like you?!" Daniel retorted in a rather spiteful tone. Turning his head to face the other teenager behind him, he continued, "Aren't you the one addicted to 'having fun' with your onee-san? I recalled that you even tried to get your family doctor to prescribe you with some s*x enhancement drugs a while back—"

"Okay! That's enough! I'm sorry for going too far, okay? Geez, why do you have to bring up that embarrassing episode in my life?" Jake scratched the back of his head, looking slightly embarrassed. "But for real, what is bothering you right now? You look like you've just seen a ghost."

Daniel simply sighed and waved his hand, stating with a rather fed up voice, "I really don't wanna talk about it."