Chapter 41: Chapter 40 - Reunion

As we appeared in the living room, I walked into the backyard. I closed my eyes for a moment just to take in the new sensations. With my core now fully activated and my bloodline powers available in an instant, I noticed that there was so much I had missed before.

I could sense every animal, every insect, the movement of each blade of grass. I could actually see how Sim was intertwined with every molecule, how she manipulated them, and how she controlled the mana to make changes. Having a fully active bloodline allowed me so much power. Being connected to Sim amplified my connection to this universe.

“I wonder if I travel to a new universe, if I’ll still be able to control everything like this?” I said out loud. I wasn’t really asking anyone, and strangely enough, Sim could tell. She didn’t respond even though I knew she was listening.

I glanced down and finally saw what Sim was talking about. I could see the roots of Yggdrasil. I pushed my senses out and saw that they had spread through every living plant connected to the earth. I could see the extension of the tree for each realm that would soon be connected. As soon as the power from the core infuses with the tree, the connections will become activated. “Cookie wouldn’t do this to hurt anyone, why would she create this and not tell me?”

“I’ve been attempting to figure that out as well,” Sim said as she appeared in front of me. “The realms the tree will be connecting to do not show any signs of activity, and the universes I was warned about in the information sent to me are not related to the tree at all. I can tell by the structure and capabilities that the tree will help shield the planet from invaders, so why wouldn’t she seek our help? It doesn’t make sense.”

As I sat there staring at the root system, I began to notice a draw. Power was pulsing through the roots. Yggdrasil was attempting to pull as much power as possible, but with the shield in place, it couldn’t take any besides what had originally made it past the shield.

“How much mana is left?” I asked Sim as I contemplated a few things.

“We should release the shield sooner than absolute failure,” she replied. “The tree absorbed much more than I originally estimated when I first learned of its existence.”

As I considered dropping the shield sooner, I asked Sim the pertinent questions.

“Is everything ready? The dungeon cores and the upgrade cores? The astral spaces for each dungeon? The city cores, the options for leadership professions? I mean everything! Is it all ready?”

“Yes, I have gone over everything we discussed. I have full access to everyone who has mana. Their wants and desires are easily accessible once they have mana channels. I can mentally probe all humans as well as every creature on earth. As soon as integration happens, I’ll be able to see all of their wants and desires as well. It will allow me to base their options for all choices on relatable context. If a creature mutates and gains intellectual sapience, I’ll integrate them into the system as well. I do not have plans to integrate any specific species or creatures other than humans, but I can’t just leave them out if they evolve. I have already chosen who to give the leadership options to as well. We are down to 83 hero candidates that I believe will fit perfectly. You just need to choose. We can give them one last choice to see if any more would like to withdraw after fighting monsters for almost two years.”

“Good idea,” I told her. “Let’s give them one last chance. What about all the shop items? Everyone’s going to need the means to survive. Food, clothes, weapons, armor, entertainment… stuff like that? Is the leveling system all locked in? You have it all set for when and how to upgrade skills and tiers, right? Stat point allocation depending on class and profession? Rarity? All that stuff?”

Sim seemed to be getting annoyed now. She seemed so human it was disconcerting. Her irritation because I was doubting her could visibly be seen on her face.

“Yes, Mike, the system shop is ready. There will be multiple shops based on how they are accessing it and their profession. I will utilize the mana pushed out from the core and create the shop options as fast as possible. I’ll start as soon as the shield is down. I am estimating between 80-90% of all items will be created within the first three seconds. The rest will be higher tier and can be created at a later point. Food and clothing will be available immediately, and I am going to start each person with enough spirit coins to buy the necessary items to survive. If they choose to purchase poorly and perish because of it, that’s on them.

I am including a tutorial before giving them access to purchase anything, though. Those with children that do not have access to the system will match their parents in whichever species and starting location they choose. Spouses will have the option to integrate together, but both must agree to do so.”

I thought about all the options, and it appeared that Sim was ready. “Okay, let’s get the hero candidates together and see… Wait, what happens if only one wants to integrate together? Why did you choose that?”

Sim got a smirk on her face. “If you were in a marriage and hated your spouse but felt trapped, wouldn’t you want to integrate on your own and get away from them? This new world should be a fresh start. So I’m giving everyone the option of a true fresh start.”

“And if they have kids?” I asked.

“The kids get to choose which parent to go with. If they are too young, I’ll check the wants and desires from both parents and decide the best course of action.”

I sighed. “I’m glad you have to do all this and not me. This is too complicated.”

Sim shook her head before continuing. “I know… You forget, I got my personality from you, Mike.”

I looked at Sim and couldn’t help but smile. “Well, thank you for doing your part, Sim.”

She rolled her eyes and started to walk back inside. “Hey Sim,” I said. As she slowly turned her head to look at me, I continued, “Thank you, I mean it. I know none of this would be possible without you, and we would all be dead. So thank you.” Sim just smiled, and then her avatar disappeared.

I closed my eyes and activated my senses. “I should probably let everyone know I’m back.”

….

Across town in Chris’s garage, Chris and Riley were discussing their next move.

“When I was fighting Lava Head, it just floated up into the sky and disappeared. So, do you think Mike's back or did Sim finally do something?”

Riley’s expression showed her disdain for Chris’s naming abilities. “Please stop calling it Lava Head. I told you that’s a stupid name.”

Chris had a big cheesy grin on his face. “What’s its head made of?”

A roll of Riley’s eyes and a slight punch to the arm later, Chris agreed with himself to keep calling it Lava Head.

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“Boo,” I said right behind Chris. I wanted to see the classic Chris jump. But it wasn’t near as funny this time. Instead of jumping and falling like normal, Chris had teleported directly behind me and withdrew his sword from the ring in less than a second. I could have easily stopped his teleport or disappeared, but I was so impressed with his reaction time that I just stood there and let him put his blade to my back.

“You can’t do that crap anymore, Mike. One of these times I’m accidentally gonna stab you.”

I quickly turned around and grabbed the blade of his sword. I forced it through my stomach up to the hilt. As Chris looked down in shock, I just laughed. “Dude, it’s fine. You couldn’t hurt me anyway.”

The look on Riley’s face wasn’t that of shock or fear; she was as entertained as I was. I’m guessing she missed me messing with him. I could easily pry and see both their memories of the past two years, but I didn’t want to be that kind of friend.

“Here,” I said as I pulled the blade back out. I made sure to show Chris that it left no discernible marks on my clothing or skin at all.

“Took you long enough,” Chris said as he pushed my shoulder. “We’ve been fighting stupid monsters for a couple years now.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t even know I was gone that long. It felt like hours to me.”

I saw Chris look at Riley, and both of their expressions immediately turned to grief and worry. As they looked back at me, I held up my hand. “Don’t!” I told them. “Sim already explained everything, and I don’t want to talk about it. I already killed every last one of the damn things, so just don’t bring it up.”

Riley was the first to start talking. “So, what exactly happened while you were gone? Sim told us you were activating a bloodline or something. She said you’d come back a lot stronger. Did it work?”

As I stood there for a few seconds trying to get my anger under control again after starting to think about Mia, I finally responded. “I had a lot of power just being linked to Sim before I left. Compared to now, that was nothing. I can collapse an entire galaxy with a thought now.”

Riley’s face showed a confused look at first. After a few moments of contemplation, it hit her what I was saying. Her eyes went wide, and she looked at Chris. Chris had the look of speculation. So I decided to prove it to him. I created a miniature sun in the palm of my hand. “This is a real sun,” I told him. “I created it to fully run off my power. If I chose to…” I stopped talking for a split second and released a minute portion of the heat towards Chris, then blocked it again. “I could release it and it would eat the earth and our solar system would become a binary star system.” I then closed my fist and snuffed it out.

As Chris was still backing up from the heat, he gave me a quick disapproving look. “So pretty much we can stop fighting for a little while? You’ll take care of everything? Because I’m tired of non-stop fighting.”

I laughed a little. “Yeah, sorry you had to do that. I didn’t know any of this was gonna happen, or I would have tried to prepare everyone.”

As I stood there thinking about everything that I was told had happened in the past two years, I glanced up at Riley. She was staring at both of us with a grin on her face. “What are you smiling at?” I asked as I walked up and gave her a hug. “I’m sorry I left you alone with Chris for that long.”

As I pulled back, I noticed her grin was huge. She looked at Chris for a long moment before she finally spoke. “You missed him and you know it.” Chris gave the funniest mock offended look he could muster. “Who, this loser? No way!”

“Well, I missed the way you are when you’re around him. Things have been way too serious lately.” As we all stood there without saying anything, Riley excitedly turned to me. “Oh, since you’re back, can you please tell Sim to give both my kids mana channels? I know Claire is only nine, but Connor is twelve now, and I want them to have a little jump start. I’ll make sure neither of them tell anyone, but I really want them to get a little bit ahead of other people.” I stopped and contemplated it for a few seconds. They had been around all the fighting and mana for longer than most people, even if it was just talking with Chris and their mom about it all. Before I could respond, Riley started talking again.

“Also, I better be one of the heroes. I’ve saved hundreds of lives already and more than proven myself. Also…” She stopped talking and held up her left hand. She had a wedding ring on her finger. She reached over and grabbed Chris’s hand too. He was also wearing a ring. “We didn’t get married yet because we wanted you to be back, but we planned on doing it as soon as possible.”

Right after she showed me the rings, my facial expression must have changed without me realizing it. Both Chris and Riley’s eyes got really big and frowns appeared on their faces. Riley moved as fast as I’ve ever seen her and wrapped me in a hug. “I’m so sorry, that was inconsiderate. You just got back, so I didn’t think before I told you.” She leaned back a little bit to look me in the eyes. “I know you said you don’t want to talk about it, but how are you doing? Sim told us she would tell you the second she found you. We felt your power, but we weren’t sure if it was Sim or if you were really back. Is there anything we can do?”

As I looked at her, trying my best to show happiness for them, I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes. “I’ll be okay. I’m really happy for you both. And of course I’ll have Sim give your kids mana early. We need to do a few things beforehand, and I want to talk with them, but the system is ready. As soon as I square away the last few things, I’ll have Sim drop the shield and start integration.”

Riley wrapped me in a gigantic hug again. “Thank you, thank you, thank you. I promise you won’t regret it.”

At this point, Chris butted in. “They are awesome and will do amazing things. Connor still wants to be a baker, but Claire has decided she wants to become a meditation expert and eventually teach people. She’s been studying with Jeff on how to manipulate mana channels and meditation. After you left, Jeff hasn’t had a lot to do because his skills and bloodline aren’t good for fighting. So he’s been helping the kids a bunch. He even moved Carlos and his family up here so they can be around other people who know about all this stuff.”

I stopped for a second and tried to figure out what he meant. I had sent out messages so everyone knew about the system coming. What did Carlos’s family know that others didn’t?

“What do you mean, ‘know about all this stuff’?” I asked. “Everyone knows about the system. I’ve sent out messages to the entire world.”

“I know. I meant, they know that you’re the admin and about bloodlines. They are some of the few people who have gotten rewards already from Sim. So they have a little step up from everyone.”

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense,” I said, realizing I should have understood what he meant from the beginning. “I need to bring everyone together and see if they’re all ready for integration. Hey Sim?”

Sim’s avatar appeared next to Riley. “Yes, Mike?”

“Man, that is still so weird to me. I love the avatar, though. Now I can actually talk to you instead of just, talking to you.”

Chris and Riley looked at each other and started laughing. Sim got a smile on her face, and I could tell she wanted to laugh but held it in. “Alright, shut up, you know what I meant.” This was the point that Sim started laughing.

“Mike, would you like me to bring everyone together so we can have a discussion about integration?”

“Yes!” I pretended to have an annoyed look on my face. Of course, this only made Chris laugh louder. “Alright,” I chuckled, “let’s go back to the meeting space but make the table a lot smaller. Just enough to fit everyone. Including the kids too; I want them to be a part of this since I’m going to let them have access a little early.”

“Done,” Sim replied. “The space is ready. I’ll send a message giving everyone ten minutes and then I’ll teleport everyone.”

“Perfect, thanks. I’ll see you guys there. I have something I want to do really fast.”

I teleported myself directly next to Yggdrasil’s base. I was easily able to follow the root system back to the tree. As I stood there staring at its majesty, numerous wood nymphs appeared. I didn’t say anything at first, still taking in the unbelievable size of the tree. It had to be over 30,000 feet tall. It extended out to the upper atmosphere.

As the nymphs looked at me, I showed just a tiny amount of mana through my eyes. I had a minuscule amount of each color show through. As recognition showed on their faces, they all began to bow, dropping to their knees and putting their heads to the ground with their arms out in front of them.

“Please get up. I am only here to have you pass on a message. Please let Cookie know I’m back.”

All the nymphs present just looked at each other for a second before bowing their heads back down.

“I know she created all of you. I will implant a message in your psyche for her. All you have to do is tell her it’s there and she’ll get it. I still can’t detect her for some reason. I have no idea why she created you without involving me, but I can see your intentions and agree with your mission.”

After I implanted the message, I smiled at the nymphs and placed my hand on the tree. I could sense its undeveloped, almost infant-like consciousness. It was absorbing knowledge as fast as it was trying to get more mana. I could tell that once fully powered, it would become fully sentient. I could also sense Cookie. Somehow, it felt like I could feel her when I was probing the tree. I wondered if it was because her power was what created the tree, but I didn’t have time to speculate. I decided to implant a message for when it awakens. “I am a friend. Seek me out once awakened, and we can help each other.” As soon as I completed the message, I teleported myself to the astral space to reunite with everyone.