Chapter 4 - Awakening [Rewrite]

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'Status.'

[

Infinity System

Name: Code 003 (Ryo Otsuki)

Age: 8 months (18 Years)

Gender: Male

-

Titles: ---

Bloodlines: Fake Klaxosaur Hybrid

Core (?): Infinity (Unawakened): Able to manipulate the concept of [Infinity] 

-

Perks:-

[1. Chunnibyo Effect: The host sees everything in an animated style. Triple the talent to learn supernatural stuff. This perk will decrease the ability to perceive distances for the Host.]

[2. Brave: Will stay brave and calm in dangerous situations. Increase stats by 15% when in fights or deadly situations. But decrease stats by 15% when not in fight or deadly situations. This perk will take 3 sec to take effect every time.]

[3. Cockroach: Have a 75% chance of getting no damage in one-shot killing attacks. No Drawback.]

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HP: 100%

MP: ---

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Body: F

Mind: F - (Cursed by Chaos & Order)

Astral Body (Currently Unusable): F -

~Overall Ranking~: F

-

Unique Points: 1,000

[Show Skills] [Show Inventory] ]

Looking at his status, Ryo asked, 'Hey, system, you told me that I can gain access to the shop at the right time, right?'

[That is correct, Host.]

'So, open the shop for me.'

[Host has yet to reach the required conditions.]

'As expected. So tell me, system, since you said that I can buy ANYTHING, right?'

[...]

[Following the rules, yes, it is possible to buy conditions to open the shop.]

'Yes! So how much UPs does it cost to get access to the Shop?'

[Calculating... Taking the current UP available to the host into account, the system requires 50,000 UPs to open the access to shop for the Host.]

'This many UPs... I am pretty sure that the items will be worth the cost... I hope so or the cons of my next actions will preside over the pros.'

'Furthermore, every time I try to buy something, my UP will be taken into account... So if I have fewer UPs, the items will also get their price lowered by a small percentage; while the opposite is also true.'

'Hey, system. Do you feel something different from my body?'

[Scanning Host's boy... The system has detected no anomaly.]

'I see...', with a quick calculation of pros and cons, he asked, 'Say, System, looks like you can't look into my memory as long as I do not say anything related to certain information, right?'

[System cannot go through Host's memory. The system can only interact with the Host by the thoughts directed to itself.]

A mental smile flashed on my face as I responded, 'Heh...! System, how about we trade!? How about I give you some important information which is of great importance to you? I am very sure that this information is worth more than the amount it requires to open the shop.'

[Host can trade the information to open the Store if the information is worth that much.]

With a bored expression, Ryo looked at the screen, while his face was still covered with his smile. 'Well Well Well... How about I just say two words through which you will have to find out the information.'

[...]

'Why so serious~ Now now, the two words are 'Dream' and 'Concepts'. This many hints should be more than enough right?'

[System has registered the anomaly. The information will be relayed to the creator.]

[Purchasing right to open Shop... 42%... 69%... 100%]

[Congratulations! The host has met all the conditions to open a shop.]

[To get anything, the Host will just have to describe the item that the Host wants to purchase and the system will show the details and price of the given item]

[Shop: The Shop is the section of the Infinite System where the Host can search for any kind of object, bloodline, artifacts, abilities, skills, memories, etc. As long as the Host asks for the given item, the detailed review and price will be shown to the Host.]

'So... I can't just see the items available in the shop... but have to search about what I require...? What a pain in the ass. This makes things difficult as well as easy...'

'Anyway, System, don't you think that information that I revealed is worth more than the purchase of the Shop? How about you shower me with some UPs for my information?'

[Unfortunately, the System cannot provide the Host with any UPs. Hosts have to earn the UPs with their own help. The System cannot award the Host with any UPs.]

'I see. Well, what else can I do? Since you can't provide me with any UPs, how about you open the shop and show me any kind of ability or object that can help me assimilate my memories so that I won't forget about them? Show me the cheapest one that I can buy with my UPs..'

[Searching...]

[Object: Bottle containing Mass Memory Liquor: A liquor made by a dwarf who wanted to enhance his blacksmithing memories while also being able to savor the taste of Alcohol.

Effects: Make the drinker remember and memories things for 1 Year. Induce drunken effect over the Host for a few hours.

Price: 100 UP.]

'It turned out to be quite cheaper than I expected...'

With deep thought and calculation, Ryo decided to purchase a single bottle, spending 100 UP. With a quick plan, he calculated that since he already had 1000 UPs, there was no need for him to worry about UPs for at least 10 years.

[UP: 1000 --> 900.]

Opening his inventory to see one of the five slots filled with a small bottle of yellowish green liquor, Ryo asked, 'So, system, tell me how do I use this 'Liquour'?'

[The Host doesn't need to worry as the System will help the Host inject the liquid within the body until the host is able to move his body freely and can use the inventory and items by himself without any restriction.]

'Good. Finally, you are helpful in something. So, System go ahead and inject the liquor inside my body.'

[As Host wishes.]

With that, Ryo's mind suddenly started to feel heavy as he went to sleep due to feeling drunk. With the alcohol content introduction to his newly formed body, it was natural for him to get drunk pretty quickly.

---

(-- Outside the Incubation Chamber --)

'Huh?'

Franxx looked at the sudden increase of alcoholic contents within the body of 003 in confusion. A frown married his face as he looked at the data showing how the Brain and Neuron activity in 003's body was reduced by a huge margin.

Looking at the mysterious situation, Franxx and other doctors started to take notes and investigate and theorize what would have led to 003's drunken-like conditions.

For eternity, it would still be a mystery how 003 was drunk while being unable to move.

But it was once theorized that 001 tried to exert her connection over 003, making his body resist the seemingly uninvited 'invasion' and this led to him feeling drunk.

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~(-- 1 Year Skip --)~

(-- 3rd POV --)

"Giro, Go grab the AR102 injection. Code 003 is showing signs of awakening! For stability and precautions, we need to be sure that 002 and 003 don't die!"

"GRRR! GRAAAA! AAAGGHGGG!"

*Clang* *Clang* *Clang* *Clang*

With a headache, Ryo slowly opened his eyes to a blinding light. His headache got worse with the voices of various people talking with each other, some kind of growling, and the clanging noises of some metallic objects.

'What... is going on?'

Trying to block the bright light over his eyes, Ryo tried to move his hand before his eyes. All the while his brain was ringing and he wasn't able to think properly.

*Clang*

Feeling his hands being restrained, Ryo's mind suddenly became much clearer as he adjusted his eyes to the bright light.

Standing in front of him were various Doctors dressed up in white clothes while one of them was examining him. He understood that this was already the time when he will get his torture sessions.

"Grrr! Ahaa!"

He started to examine his body and the surroundings while trying to act aggressively and move his body, or more specifically his head. His body was strapped over various places with metallic handcuffs of some sort.

Two of the straps were holding his wrists, two other straps were holding his legs, while the other straps were holding his near groin area.

He examined that after a year of sessions in the incubation chamber, his body was like that of a 3-year-old child! With an unnatural white body and very light purple hair, if he was correct; all the while he felt an unnatural 'Organ' of some sort over his forehead.

All this while he was trying to act natural, his body was twitching truly for some point, as he was trying to control his instincts while his head continued to buzz, albeit at a lower intensity. But all these feelings were intensified by the curse.

Soon, the required wave of perk calmness kicked in, making Ryo calm down. Turing his head to his side, toward his side from where the growling noise was coming from, Ryo's eyes went wide seeing the expected Zero Two strapped by his side, on another table.

'Wait! So I'm directly a direct clone of Klaxo-Queen like how I suspected? So I will have to go through the same shit that Zero Two had to go through? This could be really bad... The curse will really burst my senses... But I can also use it to improve my body resistance and numb my nerves...'

Looking at her struggling, trying to escape, instinctive emotions suddenly started to form inside his body. His Klaxosaur Bloodline started to make him feel an instinctive emotion to help the white-haired girl by his side and kill the humans coming his way.

Although even with his perk activated, his mind was calm, his body let out an unnatural growl.

*Grrrr*

'Shit...! I will have to train my body to resist my instincts and have them under my control. Although I can resist the instinct to kill humans, the instinct to protect my kind is quite powerful and hard to control... The curse is really getting over my mind... Also, I just took the drink which means I have lower emotional control...'

Unknown to him, Franxx had moved closer to him and was observing 003's reactions. During the year where Ryo was staying in the Incubation pod, nothing natural happened, until the very same day of the operation.

Just a few hours before the experiments, 003 started to have unnatural content of alcoholic content flowing through his body, similar to the incident a year ago, making the perfect time for Franxx to observe anything abnormal in the behavior of 003.

"As expected, you are quite an unnatural case and quite a curious one too. You didn't show much hostility toward others but as soon as you saw Code 002, your instincts started to act. I don't know whether you are able to understand me or not, but I do have to say, you have gathered my interests."

Lifting his head to Franxx saying something in a foreign language to him, Ryo felt confused, but he continued his act. Franxx talking to him was no good sign, especially when he was seeing a glint of interest in Franxx's eyes.

Furthermore, his instincts flared up more when he saw Franxx. making him clank his bindings in anger.

'This might be because of the grudge of Klaxo-Queen over Franxx. I don't know but I am no longer in control of my body... I should really make sure when I am taking the drink so as to not lose control over my body in the future.'

As if losing interest after watching him act the same way as before, Franxx turned away and from a safe distance, ordered, "Commence the operation.", while he looked closely at both 002 and 003, who were struggling to free themselves.

-

Looking at the machine, now above his body, Ryo gritted his teeth and steeled his willpower, knowing full well what was about to happen.

Just as he expected, a laser pointed its mark over Ryo's palms as it made some mechanical sound and after marking its target shot something at lightning speed.

*BAM*

"Ghha!"

*BAM* *BAM*

"Ahhhhhh!"

*BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM* *BAM*

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

For a whole period of two hours, Ryo experienced something that he could describe as hell. Each time a bullet pierced his palm, legs, hands, and various different body parts, he felt as if he was going to die.

Thankfully he was able to feel an unknown energy pass through the area where a hole had formed due to the shot from the machine, which he tried his best to grasp and understand. What he knew for sure was that as soon as this energy washed over his wound, he felt better as the injury started to heal and return to how it was previously. 

As the experiment came to an end, Ryo, now known as Code 003 lay on top of the bed he was on, while various nurses and doctors took him to a room and placed him on the floor room, which looked like a room for children. 

'At least, it will increase my pain tolerance. Being in a new body sucks... I will also have to get a hold of my instincts and body as the time passes by and I go through the process multiple times over...'

'Being in a new body sucks as it means I will start to train myself to control my muscles and numb my nerves from the very start, not to mention the workout that I will have to do when I reach around 8 years old to grow myself physically...'

As he was thinking, his eyes soon started to feel heavy as he was very tired due to the intensity of the experiment. Not only was he exhausted physically but mentally as well because of the constant ringing in his mind because of the pain intensification of the curse and drink.

But before he went to sleep, he saw how Zero Two was also transferred over to the same room he was placed in. 'Well. At least I am not alone... Heh... Now I am showing empathy? This is quite rare...'

.

.

.

"..."

"...Ah!"

"A.. Ahh!.. Ahhh!"

Opening his eyes, Ryo quickly tried to move his body due to his habit. Due to the unexpected noise and someone shaking his body, he tried to jump away from the unexpected opponent, a habit he gained during his stay in a special place which he could only describe as 'hell', a place where he was trained as a martial artist during his previous life.

His eyes remained unfocused for a second as he groaned, 'Ugh!', while his mind was still ringing as he registered the event that was taking place. 

*Hiss!*

But as soon as he moved his body, an unexpected pain struck his body. The combined pain in his body and head, made him hiss and take a deep breath to reduce the pain.

As clarity returned to his eyes, he remembered what had happened and looked at the environment he was in. As his eyes wandered around the room, he noticed that he was in a room possibly made for children.

It had a plain blue painted wall with some clouds, stars, and winds painted on it. The room also had two small children's beds and several small stuffed plush animal toys. The sealing of the room had a huge light bulb with several toy birds hanging from the top.

What he noticed the most was that there were 3 small cameras on the edges of the walls, indicating that each and every single move he was making was being watched. Noting mentally he instantly adapted to start acting naturally, as a Klaxosaur Child trapped in some known place.

Quickly averting his eyes from the cameras in a confused and natural way, Ryo quickly looked at the current situation he was in. Although the wall had several scratches and some of the stuffed toys were torn apart by someone, his main attention turned to something else who was alongside him in the room.

'It' had deep red skin, a pair of red horns, green eyes, and snowy white hair. His eyes finally landed on 'Her', who was wearing a clean white cloth to cover her body but had a lot of tears due to clawing with nails.

Yes, it was none other than Code 002 he was looking at, but she was also looking back at him warily.

With a little bit of distance, she was in a crouching position with a defensive position, as if she was scared. The main reason being due to Ryo's sudden movements, Zero Two got scared and took a defensive position.

'Huh? What should I do? What should I do? Since I am the same as the female lead, should I become her friend or something? Then I can use her when the time arrives.'

'Yeah, that will be a good start. I will be able to make her act according to me when the time is right. Then I can send her and Hiro to go on their voyage in space. This way I won't have to die...'

'Till then I will make some changes in the plot here and there and get enough UP points that I will be able to transfer to another world!'

'This could be a good as well as a really bad idea. I don't know how many UPs I need to travel to another world. What if I am required to gather a lot more UPs than what I have collected? I should prepare myself for that...'

'Anyway... To proceed with my plan, I need to make her trust me. But to make it worse, I have even scared her. Now, how can I gather her trust while also not giving up any abnormality? Let's see...'

Ryo's mind went into overdrive as he went through the previous memories of his previous life. His eyes narrowed down as he remembered how he once studied books regarding babies when he was at his high school and an idea struck Ryo.

Tilting his head, Ryo made an "Aaaa?" voice and slowly tried to crawl toward Zero Two, trying his best to act gentle and cute enough to not scare Zero Two further. He knew that if he suddenly walked up to her, his abnormality would be found out by the people looking at his actions.

Furthermore, he knew that trying to walk on two legs would make him look bigger, which might make him seem intimidating, which could lead to Zero Two to feel more frightened and fearful. 

As he slowly crawled toward Zero Two, Ryo signed in relief when he saw how Zero Two was not so scared anymore, but still looked warily at him.

"Aha! *Hiss*"

As if warning Ryo to stay away from herself, Zero Two bared her sharp teeth at him, trying to intimate him.

As if knowing that he was just testing water, Ryo stopped in his track for a second and filter his face, make an 'Aaa' noise, sat on his butt, and patted the ground slowly, a signal that he was not strong and she can come to him if she wants, while he will not move or do something special.

Slowly and carefully Zero Two lowered her guard. Their blood instincts told what the other was trying to convey by a small margin. Staring at Ryo for a long time, as if testing water whether Ryo was a threat or not, Zero Two remained on guard as she approached him.

On the other hand, Ryo was feeling a bit impatient and knew that he was a bit too impatient. It's not easy to make anyone trust you, especially when the person experiences a lot of pain while being a child.

With a little wobbly crawl, Zero Two slowly walked up to Ryo and sat just a little short of around half a meter and started to stare at his face while putting her finger in her mouth and making a soft 'Aa' sound, seemingly showing interest in Ryo.

Ryo again tilted his head and made a soft 'Aa' laugh, trying to appear as if having fun. It was a weird feeling he was feeling. He knew that it was a mixture of shame as well as fun.

Looking at Ryo laughed in a funny way, a small smile formed on her face as she also followed Ryo's actions and tried to make an 'Aa' laughing sound.

Then slowly, she crawled to Ryo and started to sniff him, trying to find out how Ryo smelled, and register it in her mind. But as soon as she took a sniff, her eyes widened a little as she suddenly hopped onto Ryo and started to hug him tightly, almost trying to merge their body into one as she started to take deep sniffs of Ryo's natural scent.

With a surprised 'Aa', Ryo was so surprised that he almost said something in the language he used to talk in. His eyes weren't able to register the movement, making him a bit surprised for a moment, but he quickly regained his mind.

Just as he tried to move his body, Zero Two looked sharply at him directly into his eyes, making Ryo stop his actions in a bit of fear that Zero Two might try to show hostility to him.

'What the hell is this situation? Wait... My smell might probably have made her think that I'm someone dear to her as I'm her own kind... That explains the situation.'

Just as he was thinking what he should do next, his stomach suddenly made a grumbling noise, making Zero Two frightened. She quickly jumped a bit back and looked around the room, trying to see who made the noise.

Ryo awkwardly looked at his stomach. The grumbling made his mood which was a bit jolly due to the news of him being able to get in contact with a main character so soon, to be turned into a bad one.

This also brought back bad memories of his, before he was adopted, he used to live in an orphanage run by government agencies. And with how society was working at that time, he used to live a bad life where he had to sleep with an incomplete stomach often.

Shaking his head, Ryo removed his thoughts looked up to Zero Two, and slowly crawled towards her.

Noticing Ryo walked towards her, Zero Two frowned and showed her teeth again due to being frightened by the sudden grumbling noise she heard.

Experiencing the pain of getting shot just after being able to move and register is not something a child could easily ignore. But as soon as he reached Zero Two, his body froze in awkwardness.

'What can I do to calm her...? I don't have any real experience... Wait...'

Taking a deep mental breath, Ryo froze for a second and thought that although it was very weird for him to do it, he decided that the current best way for him to make Zero Two feel safe was to pat her on her head.

This will probably make her bite him, but that was the plan. Although Ryo could just wait for her to calm down, he had a better way of building up trust between them this way.

So to make her feel 'protected', Ryo decided that if he took the lead, he would secure his solid place in Zero Two's mind while also he wanted to make her feel that he would never try to harm her.

As he had walked up to and tried to pat Zero Two, she bit him on his hand, "Kuh", Ryo sounded pained and tried to act pitiful, but just as he was about to help her calm down, the door to the 'Playground' suddenly opened with a Swiss, alerting both Zero Two and Ryo.

Zero Two quickly left Ryo's hand and hissed at the door.

'Huh. Such bad luck...'

Ryo quickly looked up to the place from where the opening sound came and became alert... or tried to act alert. He knew that it would be the caretaker that might be assigned to both of them.

As Ryo had expected, the leather-coated metallic door opened. Ryo watched as... A cliffhanger entered the room!

KEK

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[4080]

Gimme your power stone~