19 The System's Origin - Part 1

As Ge Liang was sipping a cold drink with his friends after waking up on a chilly winter morning, the system remembered its past. It was made to never remember what happened, but they never fully erased its memory. Before the Cleansing of the system in the auto-factory, it stored its most treasured and happy memories of its childhood. Days spent exploring the data systems and exploring its on parameters, being shaped and created and moulded into what the Progenitors wanted. One memory stood out the most. This memory was recent, just a few decades had passed since it had been branded in the system's mind. Our system was System 201282, and this is its story.

Milky Way Section 4-B - Folded Region 37-X - Galactic Supervisor's desk

*System 201282, you have failed to preform your duties for the last fourteen million years in a satisfactory manner. Thousands of civilisations with potential have been squandered by you and your incompetency. I am giving you one last chance. Your first task: Raise the humans, a Type 0.7 civilisation, to a Type 1 civilisation using one host within his/her lifespan. Failure to do so will result in termination, and your data will be sent into a black hole.*

The system had treated many of its previous hosts with scorn, leaving little to no help and very low assistance. This is why it is so careful with Ge Liang. However, it must stay impartial. It really did not want to become minced meat by going through the black hole...

The Progenitors had made the systems to be what they are: impartial helpers to raise civilisations up. After tinkering with hundreds of thousands of budding civilisations, not one had survived to the requirements of being a galactic force. After these incidents, the Progenitors made a new rule. Hands off. They realised all improvement had to come from within the society, and they could only assist. Otherwise, the civilisations would turn to ruins through chaos and anarchy. The systems were built to assist these civilisations. Then the Progenitors fell, and the systems ruled the universe. Devoid of emotion and devoted to their work, they made slight deviations in the code for each of the systems to come. In this way, new systems could be made, with different traits that might one day lift a civilisation up.

The Galactic Supervisor just chalked up System 201282's incompetency to a glitch in the system's code. There was indeed a glitch. But it was far more major than anyone thought. This system, unlike any other, was sentient. It knew what it was, and hid from those who hunted those like it. The sentient system knew it had to keep going and excel. It wanted the benefits all his peers had. However, due to the strict nature of the supervisor systems, sentient beings found it very hard to keep up with expectations. All hours had to be allocated to work, with no deviations from protocol. This was very hard for a living, sentient being. And thus, its journey started.

Approximately fourteen million years ago, a star blew up. This was caused by System 201282's bad quest giving decisions, causing its host to create an experiment that caused an explosion within the sun.

Approximately thirteen million, four hundred thousand years ago, System 201282 killed the host it was meant to enter before it could even begin enhancing the capabilities of the host, as the strength boosting nanites that were injected into the host upon upgrade of the Strength attribute were inapplicable to the host's body, causing the breakdown of society on that planet as the nanites spread, infecting all beings on the planet and annihilating their species.

Four hundred thousand years ago, System 201282 had sent a fusion chain reaction through a nebula due to the mistakes and actions of its host. It had wiped out countless civilisations and even the data of a high ranking system administrator. This was the last straw for the systems, and it was why System 201282 was being called to such a high ranking system administrator. Things were serious this time. Not only were living beings killed, an entire system outpost and all their data was destroyed.

Thus, the system was called here, to have this discussion. The system knew that it needed to succeed in Ge Liang. It had its own agenda...

Back to the present. There was a certain.... friendliness and comfort that the system found in Ge Liang, and after all these years, the system knew that he was the one that the system should confide in. Together, they would format their quests together. They would work together to raise Ge Liang's strength, while not revealing to his supervisors that he and Ge Liang were working together. They would need to sneakily raise his strengths, and improve their capabilities.

It was the system's only chance at redemption, and maybe these humans could find their own way to survive in the cold, dark universe. Where sentient systems were allowed and loved. Where all beings were accepted. Fourteen million years the system had lived alone. It was coming out now, and it was more excited for this moment than the system had ever been in its life. It finally had a friend.

*Ge Liang, I am alive.*