1 Prologue: Cloned!
Xylos watched as his astral body slowly floated into the air leaving his physical body behind; his physical body kept moving as if nothing happened, continuing along the way toward his work location. The body looked up and for a moment; their eyes met for a moment, and then Xylos was sucked forcefully into the stratosphere before vanishing into a blinding white void.
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A bombardment of high pitched sounds and distorted voices boomed all around him before they faded into a dim and dark silence. In a state of half-awareness, he heard the following phrases.
"Another failure...1~3 month at most..."
A moment later, he felt something flow through him and it took away the rest of his awareness
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A loud clang vibrated through the air causing Xylos to jump awake and almost flip out of the bed.
"Wake up! It is time for breakfast." The soft voice of a nanny echoed throughout the room and about a dozen footsteps landed messily on the wooden floor; so loud that it would probably be able to wake up the deepest sleepers. He is in a simple rectangular room barely enough to comfortably fit a single-sized bed and a simple desk and chair. The room was lit with what looked like a hexagonal crystal embedded in the ceiling. There was a small lightless window near the top of the ceiling, it looked like an accommodating jail cell. All it was missing is a toilet nearby to complete the picture.
The first thought that came to Xylos mind was
- Where is this? -
but it was then abruptly replaced by
- I had a great sleep last night, I have to get to the breakfast area fast or the good stuff will be gone. A healthy breakfast for a healthy mind! I need to study hard so I can do something for the orphanage. -
Xylos headed out the door, but the moment he crossed the doorway a stray though asked
- Why? -
before an intense pain shot through his head and the world around him seem to topple and churn; only by hitting the ground did the world seem to stabilize.
"What happened to him? Did he trip?" A few concerned murmurs can be heard around him before Xylos stood up and reached for a delicate hand before him.
"Are you alright?" A girl said as she pulled him to his feet. A moment later, a feeling of warmth flowed through his hand to the rest of his body. At that instant, the past, present, and everything become clear. He looked at the girl in disbelief as he followed the girl to the breakfast area while deep in thought.
He was currently at an orphanage, or at least that is what it looks like on the surface. Its true motive is to create, monitor, develop and dispose of "Arths" or "Artificial humans" created by forbidden magic. Xylos or Arth #737 is one of the many. Most of them only live for about a month before their core collapses and they are disposed of.
However, all isn't without hope. For whatever time these creations have remaining they are taught magic and have access to a great repository of beginner, intermediate, and advance magic texts. As a being created by magic, their affinity to magic is without equal. Yet, there haven't been any cases where anyone has managed to extend their lifespan.
"Why?" Xylos said the only word that came to mind as he tried to sort out everything that happened from the moment he was displaced from his body and the impending end.
The girl stared back at him without much of a reaction. Then, she slowly reached for his hand. "You are the only hope." Xylos heard the phrase before a small flood of information about magic entered his mind. "All the best" she smiled before she dispursed into particles and disappeared.
Xylos reeled back in surprise only to notice that the people around him just looked at the vanishing particles with indifference. One of them, with a broad build and a rough features, then stared directly at him for a moment before saying, "She gave you her core data. Better make the best of it while you are alive. Here is something to help you out." And tossed him a scroll.
Xylos gripped the scroll tightly before he slammed his utensil on the table and rushed out of the breakfast area into a somewhat empty courtyard. He started walking really fast in circles.
"F...", Xylos cursed for a while before calming down a bit to analyze the situation. Currently, for some reason, he was separated from his physical body which was healthy and alive and moved into an Artificial Human body that has less than a month to live. The only good news about it was that this world has mana and magic and he believed that some sort of combination of them would allow him to live longer. He didn't want to die, especially when this was an opportunity to transcend mortal limitations and use MAGIC. The mere thought of the possibilities left him exuberant.
"I won't let this opportunity pass me by!" Xylos unfurled the scroll and to his delight, the map of the facility was drawn on it. "I can do this!"
Following the map, he quickly found the Library and settle in a quiet corner. He focused on the feeling at the moment when she transferred her "core data" and a bunch of words and thoughts filled his mind then he imagined some words that came from the mouth of a teacher.
"Mana is a force that permeates and resides in every living conscious being, everyone has equal access to the mana but not everyone can sense, and control such power. In a time long past, Mana appeared, at first, it was a blessing to many at first but soon it became a calamity as beings who used the mana was consumed by it becoming an instinctive beast that attacked all living creatures. At that point, various magic systems were created to control mana. One of the most common methods are..."
A list of 22 different magic system names appeared, each one with 22 subcategories with even more groups within. It was overwhelming.
"No wonder, none of the Arths managed to resolve their flaws before their time was up. There are just too many possibilities and tiers to go through; each with their own requirements to make sure that the next tier won't cause the person to lose control."
Xylos then looked around the library for the beginner magic text section. After going through all 22 paths of magic, he had a good idea of what the foundation of each system was. Every path required something like a core; something that represented the "true self." As the true self is refined, so will the amount of power a person can control. All those systems meant to create, develop, and evolve a core to wield more power within the system without going out of control.
They were all easy to start but hard to progress; some of which could take years just to get to the next tier. He only had a month...
"None of these will work. These systems feel like an instruction manual that indoctrinates a person in one of the 22 paths so he/she can control and be controlled by the system. How did those use mana when it first appeared? Can't I come up with my own system? I'll risk losing control, but what does it matter if I'll vanish anyways in less than a month. That seems to be the only way. Arths have great sensitivity to mana I can use it to create my own system; my own 'true self'"
"What is my true self?"
Xylos pondered for a bit going deep into the rabbit hole of what it means to be a True, Self. After a while, he concluded that it was a state in which he felt like he is alive, every moment felt great and he knew exactly what to do next; a state of flow and tranquility; like when he is writing a computer program, drawing something, playing an instrument, or writing an article. Out of all those possibilities, only computer programming seems a logical way to start. All other methods seem to come and go at a whim without a clear measure of proficiency.
"I'll convert the mana into a computer program!"
