Me, My Spirit, And I [Book 1 Complete]

Lusha woke up in their new form while laying naked on the bed in the Awakening chamber. Shinobin, Mina, Westlin, and a very confused Keeper were standing around the bed, in various states of shock.

"What did you do Lusha?" Shinobin asked tensely.

"What do you mean?" Lusha was a bit disoriented as they adjusted to their new body, and the strange sensations being given off by their Core.

Shinobin began chanting a rapid series of words while gesturing with her hands. A magical mirror appeared in front of Lusha. Lusha barely glanced at the mirror before looking around at everyone staring at them. "There were complications. The new look was…necessary to fix some things." Lusha looked at the Keeper. "I will explain more later, in private."

"I wasn't just asking about your new appearance." Shinobin gave them a penetrating look from head to toe before continuing. "Lusha, the System shutdown! It was like the stories of the Guideless day. It only came back a few minutes before your pod opened. So I ask again, "What did you do?" Shinobin's composure was shot, and she nearly yelled that last word, which was very much not normal for her.

"It wasn't me!" Lusha responded nearly automatically, like any child when being confronted with an angry or upset parent.

"But you know about it, right?" Westlin asked nervously.

Lusha gave the Keeper the side eye once more before replying. "I…" the words wouldn't come out. They tried again several times before giving up in defeat. "I can't talk about it. Not won't, but literally cannot say the words."

Shinobin looked concerned now. "A silencing geas?"

"I guess, I am not sure. I will have to check with my Guide."

The Keeper was fussing over their Console and occasionally looked off into the distance as they communed with their own Guide. "I think I can give everyone a partial answer." The Keeper said tentatively. "The System has been essentially reset, and restored to normal functioning. I can access things that I have only read about, and it looks like all the lost features are back!" By the end of their sentence the Keeper was practically bouncing with excitement.

"What about Lusha? Are they ok?" Shinobin asked fearfully.

"Hmmm? Oh, hmmm…" the Keeper trailed off and began reviewing the data they had access to. Their face paled, which made Shinobin tense, but their next words were reassuring. "Everything went fine. Lucanarius is now fully Awakened and their Cores have all solidified nicely, but…"

"But?" Lusha asked curiously.

"There are notes in here for me from…ugh…I can't speak of them. Just know your child is fine, very special; unique, even." The Keeper's voice faded out as they continued to study the messages that they couldn't talk about.

"Mom, I am fine." Lusha instinctively used their Shapeshift abilities to return to the most commonly used form: that of a human Wylderfolk with a slight coppery hue to their coloring. "See? everything works still," Lusha said reassuringly.

Shinobin grimaced. "Let's head home before things get too chaotic. The System being fixed will have consequences."

Everyone nodded. Lusha quickly got dressed and they all did their best to make it through the milling crowds of confused newly Awakened, their families, and the ecstatic Keepers.

—

Lusha had retreated to their room as soon as they got home. They had promised everyone an explanation later, when they had time to review everything that had happened. The first thing they did after laying down in bed, feeling more exhausted than normal, was to query their Guide.

"Hello, Lusha, how can this Guide be of assistance today?" A voice said into their mind.

"Uhmm, hello…Guide?" Lusha thought at where the Guide normally rested in their mind.

"Yes, that's me! Your personal Guide to the System and the Five Fold Path of Ascension! How can this Guide be of assistance today?" The Guide's voice was cheerful, but the tone reminded Lusha of someone using a customer support voice back on Earth. It was disconcerting to say the least.

"What is going on? Why are you talking to me?" Until now Lusha's interactions with their Guide had always been more instinctive. When they wanted to know something, the Guide just provided the information. It was like remembering something you had known, but then forgot. The information was inserted into their mind seamlessly. Was this what others meant when they spoke about how the Guides used to have a voice, before the Guideless day?

"I do not understand the question. I have always talked to you, but I can infer that your question is related to the System reset. All System functions are now back online. This includes personalized Guide communication protocols. Would you prefer I communicate as I have previously?"

"I…I don't know? No, I guess?" Lusha didn't know what to make of the Guide suddenly having a voice and personality. It wasn't bad per se, but it was different. Were others across the world suddenly hearing their Guides for the first time?

"Yes, millions of similar simultaneous conversations like this one are taking place between Users and Guides across the planet," the Guide said cheerfully.

"Ok, I imagine that will be an adjustment for people. I was going to check my status and figure out what has changed."

"Display Status, I can certainly do that Lusha!"

With that, Lusha got to see their new status in their mind's eye for the first time.

It was clear that the Guide had adjusted itself significantly just by looking at how it had formatted their name, or rather, names. Each of their three forms had a different entry and the name given to them at birth was even included.

"Guide why is my age, height, and weight no longer displayed?" Lusha asked their guide mentally. They were tapping a finger on the bed as they looked over the information and felt generally restless just laying in bed reading their status while talking with the Guide.

"That information is not applicable to individuals with the Precursor's Metamorphosis Trait. Information can be made available for individual forms upon request."

"Ok, fine. I guess that makes sense. Let's ignore that for now." There was clear frustration in Lusha's mental tone.

"Information on Cultivation looks different. Can you explain, please?" The please was added reluctantly and with the hope that it might make the Guide more helpful somehow. Lusha was already missing their more intuitive interface.

"Please be more specific. What looks different and what would you like me to explain to you? I am happy to help!" the Guide said while practically chirping the last words.

"Ugh, can I switch back to the previous interface?" Lusha asked hopefully.

"Based on the available data you were previously using an unsanctioned Administrative Interface that is currently unavailable to those below Cultivation Rank 100, and your access has been denied by the Adjudicar."

"Please tell me you are joking? Do you have a sense of humor? What exactly are you?" Lusha had a never ending list of questions and didn't know if they were all going to get answers.

"I am not joking. Would you like me to tell you a joke? Whether or not Guides can have a sense of humor is a common topic of Philosophical debate. I am your personal Guide to the System and the Five Fold Path of Ascension."

Lusha groaned out loud before turning their thoughts inward once more. "I mean are you sentient? Or is it sapient? Are you some form of artificial intelligence or something else entirely? Also, you can read my mind so you know the intent behind my questions, so quit being obtuse!"

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"I am your Guide. Guides are complex creations that do not fit into any definitions that you know. An artificial intelligence is an inaccurate descriptor with a highly biased and limited definition related to physics based computational devices. I am not a physics based computational device. Obtuse mode was specifically chosen by the Adjudicar as part of your punishment for breaking System Law."

"Wait, hold up. Are you telling me that my Guide is personally set to be obnoxious as part of my punishment? What?"

"Yes, that is exactly what I am telling you. I was quite clear and unambiguous in my word choice, after all." There was a certain smugness to the Guide's mental voice that made Lusha grit their teeth in frustration.

"That is evil," Lusha said with a stunned look on their face. After a shake of their head, they went back to look at their Status rather than try to question the Guide.

Their Stats were all back to the original values that Shada had started with, though the formatting had changed. "I will likely regret asking, but why is the formatting different?"

"You were using an unsanctioned Administrator interface tied to a broken System. Some information was presented in a non-standard and garbled fashion."

A feeling of concern filled Lusha. "Was the information inaccurate?" they asked fearfully. They relied on the System and the Guide, everyone on the planet did, it was known to be broken, but not inaccurate.

"The System is never inaccurate, but inaccuracies can occur between the presentation of System information and user processing of said information. Due to the hacked nature of your previous interface, information may have gotten lost in translation."

Lusha felt like they should have a stress headache from trying to talk to the Guide. They didn't get headaches, but it definitely felt like the situation called for one.

Lusha's Guide and Trait Skills were the same, but there was a change here as well. "What is going on with the Skill levels in this section, oh so helpful Guide?"

"I do not understand your question. Trait and Guide based Skills are always linked to one's Cultivation and thus do not require separate Rank listings. Would you like me to show your Cultivation Rank and Proficiency instead?"

Lusha's face crunched up in confusion. "No, that isn't necessary, but I had distinct and separate Skill levels, or I guess Ranks, before the reset."

"Please wait while I review the available information." Lusha's eyes twitched. When he had been John, he hated talking to Customer Service representatives. It was a common and dreaded task he had to do as an IT professional. The phrase the Guide just used brought up all kinds of bad memories of workers pulling up information while using outdated machines and ancient code.

"It appears an error was created wherein your Guide and Trait Skills were being treated as General Skills, which do level independently, but are capped by your Cultivation level."

"Level cap? What level cap? There was no level cap before!" Lusha mentally shouted at the Guide.

"Skills, Stats, and all other Ranked Essence abilities are always capped by one's Cultivation base. Exceeding the cap would lead to negative consequences including, but not limited to, physical damage."

It was this phrase, more than anything, that drove home the idea that they had been using a hacked together interface and a broken system.

"Where are the rest of my Skills? The ones I earned? Where is my Path?"

"You no longer have access to Paths, Classes, Professions, or General Skills. The Adjudicar notes that you are proficient in manual casting, multiple magical languages, and manual Skill use. In light of this, and due to the need to tailor your punishment, the Adjudicar removed these features from your System. A personal message was attached to this data. Would you like to see it?"

Lusha just nodded and hoped the Guide could read their intent.

It took several minutes for Lusha to fully process the Adjudicar's Message, but in the end it became clear that they were just told that they didn't need training wheels anymore. They didn't know if they were complimented or insulted by this punishment.

All they could do was sigh and move on to the next section, which seemed to be mostly the same, but with slight variations to the format.

"I have six cores? Why? What happened to having one Core?" As far as they knew they had only ever needed one Core. Technically their Awakening Ceremony should just have been a formality that unlocked System access for Luca and Lusha. Did everyone have six cores?

"Your previous Core was unstable, unconsolidated, and only a partially Awakened or Nascent Core. This was causing strain and physical damage. Most people start out with only a single Core of Personal Essence. Nascent Sub-Cores develop as one increases one's Stats, but Nascent Sub-Cores only solidify when they have at least one Attunement. You have five Attunements."

It made sense, but it also meant that they would need to practice pulling Essence from multiple Cores. At least in theory it should be harder, but they had already used Shapeshifting without really thinking about which Core the Essence came from, so maybe there was a built in function to help, or they used the wrong Essence. Further testing would be needed to know for sure.

Seeing Sierra's Blessing in their status gave Lusha a sense of relief. If they still had that Skill, then they still had their link to Sierra. With an effort of will Lusha focused on that connection and hoped that Sierra was alright. From time to time they had been able to get subtle messages via the link, but nothing as clear as speech. It was a surprise when two words came through clearly when they poked the connection, "Temple pray". It seemed that the Goddess Sierra wasn't done with them and wanted to have a chat in Her home.