2 1: Remnant Soul System
"Ugh," I groaned as my consciousness returned. Through my quickly clearing vision, I was in an entirely gray void-not too dark or light but enough to see clearly-with hardly anything around for some distance. "What happened?"
The last thing I could remember was seeing the moon get bigger and then a faint feeling of warmth before everything turned black. I was vaguely sure I was dead-disintegrated from the impact zone-which made me feel a deep painful sense of loss. There was something else I felt deep inside my very being like a profound sense of hollowness. I had no idea why I felt like this at all nor how best to process what's going on with me. Strangely enough, I didn't feel a mental breakdown coming from this small sensation.
"What's happening to me?" I asked myself.
==+==
A/N: I'll be using {} to distinguish System talk/prompts from normal dialogue which use quotation marks ("") from here on out. Thoughts will use single quotation marks ('') for convenience.
==+==
{Remnant Soul System has been successfully installed!} a serenely monotone voice echoed inside my mind. {Welcome, Damian Taylor, to the Remnant Soul System! In a few short moments, you shall undergo creating your new corporeal body using the [Character Creation Generator] or [CharGen] for short. After creating your character, you shall learn the basic functions of the System and then begin by selecting a spawning area within a pre-designated universe. Do you have any questions before we begin?}
'I have many…' I thought to myself, but since this System informed me of how limited my time is before going into a Tutorial-esque setting, I decided to ask only three questions.
"First, where am I?"
{You are within the Deadlands. It is a plane of existence cut off from most universes and dimensional boundaries while also being the most versatile place for new souls to reincarnate aside from the Abyssal Sea.} the System responded.
I didn't bother to waste my second question on having the System clarify about the Deadlands since I had a feeling there will be time in the future to explore this dimension. "Second, what is a Remnant Soul?"
{A Remnant Soul is a spirit who has experienced a traumatic death to such a degree that it damages their core. Most souls are able to withstand such trauma easily, but a Remnant Soul is both more fragile and flexible-depending on the soul's inherent nature.} The System quickly responded.
'Well, that makes sense since I died due to Impact Day alongside my parents and siblings…' I thought to myself after hearing the System's response.
"This is my last question. Is it possible I can return to Earth?" I asked with a sliver of hope. Unlike some webnovels where the protagonist isn't able to return back home because of plotlines, I was hoping this was one where I could potentially return in the future.
{I cannot answer that.} The System responded which made me feel a little disappointed. Setting aside my disappointment, the time for questions was over and it was time to create my new body.
A holographic screen appeared in front of me like one of those video game interfaces where at the center top of the prompt said [Character Creation]. There were columns, sliders, dropdown boxes, and a Search bar clearly defining their uses. [Skin Tone], [Hair Color], [Eye Color], [Tattoos], [Height], [Body Build], [Voice Type], [Race], and a whole host of customization options were available to me, but most of them were all grayed out except for [Race]. It made sense in my eyes to get a proper base foundation first before setting everything else up, so I opened up the [Race] tab.
To my absolute shock, the races I saw reminded me of Star Wars!
Since there were so many races in the Galaxy, I'll show the ones which caught my eye:
1. [Human]
2. [Twi'lek]
3. [Sith Pureblood]
Obviously, I wanted to choose the third option because I fancied the whole "craving power through violence" bit, but not the corruption of the Dark Side. If I chose the pureblood race, I'd basically be screaming out "Dark Side User" to the whole galaxy so I selected [Human]. Before I could confirm my race, however, I wanted to at least check out their base stats.
=+=
{Race: Human (C)}
[Vitality: 10]
[Strength: 10]
[Agility: 10]
[Charisma: 10]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Wisdom: 10]
=+=
It seemed that [Humans] have a base ten all across six stats which makes sense. Considering that most humans live to around eighty to hundred years old, a Vitality score of ten makes complete sense. Mentally shrugging a bit, I decided to pull up the [Sith Pureblood] stats on a lark-still not yet confirming my race. I needed to make sure I had a decent start on my new life since I could guess that with my System, I could potentially get stronger than even Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader himself.
=+=
{Race: Sith Pureblood (C)}
[Vitality: 20]
[Strength: 20]
[Agility: 30]
[Charisma: 25]
[Intelligence: 40]
[Wisdom: 15]
=+=
I was shocked to see those base stats, but also not entirely surprised considering their lore of being heavily influenced biologically by Korriban's dark side affiliation. If I wanted to play a Darksider in a game, I'd choose the [Sith Pureblood], but since this is my new reality, I confirmed my new race to be [Human]. Once I confirmed that, the [Race] tab was grayed out and a three-dimensional hologram of a [Human] appeared in front of me. The avatar stood roughly two meters (six feet) tall with a lean frame and seemed to only be wearing boxers. Somehow, I felt like the System took the liberty to confirm my biological gender to be [Male] since I identify as a guy.
Skipping ahead a few moments, I finalized my settings for my new body.
=+=
[Body Build: Muscular]
[Eye Color: Gold]
[Hair Color: Black]
[Hair Style: Long/wavy]
[Skin Tone: White (tan)]
[Voice Type: Masculine]
[Height: Two meters (Six feet)]
[Race: Human]
=+=
{Character confirmed,} the System said. {Avatar manifestation shall begin after completion of the System Tutorial.}
(Continued in the next chapter: "System Tutorial and Arrival in the Galaxy")
