3 Escape
Many universes away from the one Patrice was currently unknowingly intimidating his attackers.
In a desolate and barren space that stretched the length of an entire galaxy.
A thin spacial crack spread slowly across the abyss and joined with other thin, almost invisible lines. Over time they formed a web of cracks which then appeared to slowly pulsate, sinking in and then protruding out of the centre, as if something was trying to force its way through.
This anomaly continued for a millennium. Fortunately or unfortunately, time held no meaning in this space. The abyss seemed far removed from the rest of existence. Isolated in the furthest corner of reality. Almost like a prison of sorts.
The lines continued to pulsate, until the gradual slow rhythm quickened into that of a beating heart. After another millennia, the beating rhythm quickened to that of a galloping horse, then a marching band.
Then all of a sudden it stopped and an insurmountable pressure slowly began to envelope the space, tightly wrapping its influence around the very fabric of reality.
This continued for another millennia until one day the pressure too, vanished, and the space began to fall!
Small pieces of matter, darker than the very void they inhabited, fell like shattered glass, before being carried away from the influence of the spacial anomaly. As their timelines slowly returned to them, these pieces of cracked space melted into blobs of dark liquid before evaporating into dark gasses which flitted off into the universe, then eventually into the neighbouring universes and then even further into the wider multiverse.
Following the return of the spacial anomaly into the natural flow of time, a small but blindingly white orb could be seen hovering in the now clear but empty space.
[System detecting crania-Ow my head hurts]
[Wait what the hell is-System running diagnostics]
[This son of a bitch!!]
[System diagnostics complete - view details]
[Fucking view them then-urgh what is wrong with my voice]
[*System diagnostics*
Name: *Error*
Model: vO1d (modified)
Energy resource: 100 (Enough for one planetary warp)
Lifespan: Immortal (modified)
Cultivation: Return to Origin (sealed - requires physical body)
Cultivation techniques: None
Host: None
Souls: None (Soul - Energy conversion: 1:100)
Update version: 01
Energy required for next update: 100/10000]
Lin Fan remained silent for a long time after the stream of information had invaded his consciousness. Understand that prior to this event, he had always seen a transparent screen whenever he saw his system's diagnostics. It had been that way for nearly 300,000 years. Even if one were to set that aside, what was with this status? Energy resource? Model? Update version? It was almost as if….
[Fucking hell…]
[Did that little shit invade my consciousness?] Lin Fan thought, afraid to accept the truth of the matter. Deep down he knew what had happened. Deep down he knew he had fused with the damned machine. Yet he hoped a few moments of denial would change his current reality.
[What am I even suppos-System searching for energy resource]
[What the h-Energy resource found]
[Let me t-Begin absorption]
Following this confused declaration, the white orb began to draw in the few wisps of dark gasses that had yet to flitter off into space.
*Energy resource: 10000 (Enough for one solar warp)*
Feeling a little defeated, Lin Fan remained silent as a hunger he didn't know he had was slowly quenched.
Until finally, he felt himself say.
[No more energy resource available]
*Energy resource: 568,689 (Enough for one universal warp)*
Lin Fan reflected on this new piece of information and tearfully thought about how far he'd fallen. From a humble transmigrator who had painstakingly cultivated and finally managed to absorb the fates of all his other selves to reach the summit of the cultivation world, only to stumble on the small jump into godliness. [Haahhh…], and if that wasn't heart-wrenchingly sad enough, he was now insulted with the fate of having to be trapped inside one of the cosmic machines he had used to accomplish his feats.
After wallowing in self pity for a while, Lin Fan had another look at the information in his head?…Motherboard?…[Whatever!]
*Energy resource: 568,689 (Enough for one universal warp)*
[If I use this to upgrade, will I still have enou-System Calculat-Shut up!], wanting to feel a semblance of human normalcy, Lin Fan interrupted the his own robotic voice and the result surprised him.
[Ohooo…so it's not a one way street]
[BAHAHAHHAAAA]
[I thought it was another prison!!]
In a much better mood, Lin Fan continued his thought process, feeling like he could suppress further interruptions from his mechanical side.
*Energy resource: 568,689 (Enough for one universal warp)*
[Okay, so if I use 10000 units of energy, I can upgrade the system but then I could be trapped here for god knows how long…spending all those countless years in that place was enough to…] Lin Fan felt a cold shiver envelope him, despite the lack of a physical body.
[Nope, never again…best option is to jump to another universe so I can at least find a body or more energy resources…but then again, what if-System commencing universal warp in-WHAT?!?]
[3-NO WAIT!]
[2-OIII I SAID NO!!]
[1-Why isn't it work-]
[0-Motherfu-]
With a blinding flash and a few flickers of light, the small white orb disappeared from the piece of dead space.
