Chapter 2: Custom Regression

The world faded to nothingness. All lights became ethereal and divorced from the reality perceived.

Was this what it was like to exist as 'nothing'?

It was only for a brief moment, but it felt like forever before the darkness was intruded by blue screens.

[The Host has failed.]

Adam found it quite comforting that there was at least something here that could take his attention.

Even if all the sensations of his body were lost.

"Why me?" His voice didn't come out, but his mind clearly imagined and expressed that thought aloud.

The System didn't message immediately, but he was certain that it had heard his question clearly.

[…] There was a icon screen as if it was thinking.

[No reason.] It finally sounded like an actual person rather than an artificial intelligence doing maths.

"What's next?" Adam had already made peace with himself regardless if he went to heaven or hell.

There was nothing to say from the beginning.

He couldn't be bothered asking further about the origins of the System. Only knowing it had existed.

Starting to fall into nostalgic dreams of the past.

How long had it been since he had given up looking for his way back to Earth? What had he left behind?

Adam only remembered running away from home that day. Trying to make himself independent.

His brother… His parents… Himself… Everyone…

Regardless of who it was, he couldn't quite remember their faces after leaving for long.

How long had it been since he looked in the mirror?

Wanting to see himself get older with time, and try to understand himself through facing his feelings.

It had been a long time since he'd done that.

Nowadays, the only thing he'd thought of was the future and present. So that's what he did.

"Miracle Gamer of Taboo Fate… That's what you are, right?" Adam asked without any emotions.

As if he was uselessly filling space with words.

[You can call me the 'Taboo System'. That name is only the description of the medium I manifest on.]

This explanation made him understand that it wasn't entirely something born from within him.

At first, he thought this System came from his own powers. Seeing 'Miracle Gamer' among his Gifts.

However, now he had a different interpretation of it.

"Who is the Game Master?" Adam suddenly felt curious about the one behind this 'Taboo System'.

It had always been oh-so-convenient…

The 'Taboo System' had allowed him to nullify his limits in what a Human could learn. It allowed him to be able to use and understand every Magic System created on Gaia. All to its fullest potential.

[Answer denied.]

He had expected as much, so he shifted the topic to something blatantly obvious to him at this point.

"You didn't want me to save the world." Adam spoke with certainty. He wasn't the fool here.

In 'Soldier of the Apocalypse', Simon had managed to save the world and all its inhabitants perfectly.

And yet, why was he brought to this world with a System? It didn't make sense with some thought.

[…Is that important now?]

"You're finally showing your true colours to me. I knew there was nothing for free." A glare had appeared in his eyes. There was no way he'd believe this System hadn't expected this ending.

"Did you have fun watching me squirm? Seeing me mess up a perfect ending?" He spoke with hatred.

Only to have his rant interrupted by a message.

[I didn't like the ending.]

Even though Adam's face still looked hysterical, a spark of wit appeared in his eyes while looking at it.

He guessed they both read the same book, but this sly entity was something beyond a normal human.

Even without his prompting, it clarified its intent.

[Suffering after attaining hope, then eventually falling to death filled with despair. It's horrible.]

"You wanted him to have a friend?" Adam didn't know how to feel if their feelings were manipulated.

[Having someone to talk to is better than being completely alone. Your friendship wasn't planned.]

"Even if I believe that… What now?" He no longer had anything of value after making another end.

Even his life was lost.

[For staying true to your heart and contributing to saving Gaia, you shall be rewarded an opportunity.]

[Pick between these options.]

[1. Checkpoint (You can return to a specific point in time without memory of future events, but still have the power of it. Every treasure you have collected in your future shall be added to your inventory.)]

[2. Restart (You can return to the beginning of your journey with all your memories. You're skills and character traits shall be reset. You shall appear in the same time zone you had arrived previously.)]

[3. Reset (By releasing the Taboo System, you are able to customise your regression and be reborn into Gaia as its inhabitant. In return for this, the memories of future events will not be retained.)]

[4. Death]

The last option didn't even have an explanation with it. Obviously, this wasn't the intended choice.

But Adam wasn't going to follow its intent anymore.

"Oh woe is me~ I'm so darn depressed… that the only choice I can make is..." He extended his hand.

Reaching towards the last option.

Even though the Taboo System was supposed to be fair, pressing on that choice caused an error.

[Invalid entry…]

"Oh no~ I wonder what could've happened?" Adam played innocent while looking at the blue screen.

He could feel the cold gaze of its artificial mind.

[Stop this nonsense at once.]

"Me?" The voice in the abyss went from friendly to a beastly growl: "Am I REALLY playing here?"

[What's wrong?]

"Maybe you can tell me." (Adam)

[I'm under some restrictions, so there is only so much I can say. Your existence isn't simple.]

"I'm not interested in all that anymore. Just be honest here… You want me to pick 'Checkpoint', don't you?" It wasn't hard to tell which one gave the best and most stable options in this situation.

If he went back to a checkpoint in life with all the skills and knowledge he had now, he could do it.

Saving the world would work.

The second option was also a good contender for if I wanted to choose a different route for my life.

But this ends here.

"I'm serious about not wanting to live anymore." A voice could be heard in the depths of the abyss. 

The cold permeated like the tip of an iron blade.

[…]

There was a loading icon once again. This seemed to be a serious matter that couldn't be ignored.

[What do you want?]

"Don't get in my way. You have supported me all this time, but that only made me overconfident and careless. Your protection made me too used to not having to work hard to gain strength. This time… I'll let my fate be dictated by my own destiny." (Adam)

After lifting his finger, he clicked on number 3.

'Reset'…

There was no reason to pick anything else. Even if other options had more certainty, they were all bad.

Having to keep this bastard of a System on him wasn't helpful. All things had their limitations.

His talents were limited.

If there was only so much he could do himself, it was better to burden to 'past self' for a new path.

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At least he'd better prospects at that point.

After clicking on the choice, Adam could hear glaring alarms. The System seemed to falter.

Memories of his past with the people he'd loved flashed through his eyes. The world turned tipsy.

As if everything was for the sake of this moment.

…..

….

…

..

.

A 3D image of my body appeared in front of me at that moment. One altered by my every little whim.

I made my new avatar handsome for reasons you might expect. Having a good face was very reliable.

It was the first thing literally everyone looked at.

Well, everyone except for Faith…

After having modified my appearance, I set a few parameters using whatever method I could find.

Let's see…

[Status Window…]

[-Name: Adam Graham (Adam Ocelot Black)

-Race: Werewolf (Black)

-Special Characteristic: Alpha Gene, Spirit Wolf 

-Inborn Gift: Miracle Gamer of Taboo Fate (Shut Down), Unidentified and Unawakened Gift]

I looked at the four lines of text on the blue screen and decided to do some work 'balancing' myself.

The unidentified Inborn Gift I'd never been able to awaken was combined with my Spirit Wolf trait.

My reasoning was simple.

I'd chosen to become a Werewolf simply because I knew how hard the past me would have it being born as one. Especially if I was born as the brother of a certain individual that caused my friend pain.

A werewolf's Spirit Wolf was what gave them the ability to transform and use their innate abilities. It was because I wanted to make my unidentified Inborn Gift part of me that I'd combined the two.

Nothing worth thinking about.

The more pressing issues, in my opinion, was how to use this creation screen to limit my 'past self'.

After all, I knew the 'Adam Graham' back then had nowhere near the same personality as the me now.

But how was I supposed to do that…?

Putting my past self in the vicinity of Faith, one of the heaviest hitters of our team, wasn't going to help on its own. There was no telling what my past self would do when faced with this bad situation.

It was at that point I thought about everything I'd learned over the course of my extensive journey...

The things Faith told me about Werewolves herself.

An idea formed in my mind while looking at the shut down Miracle Gamer of Taboo Fate right there.

After double clicking on it, the stat window opened up to show that my 'Player Connection' was active.

[Players Chosen:

-Faith Earnest White (Sixth Sense)

-Simon Rainglow (Universal Specialty)

-Wesker O'Brian (Seventh Sense)

-Sapphire Swordwick (Skill Tree)]

Four connections was the maximum limit of people I could choose using this Awakened Gift of mine.

Choosing them with this method allowed me to both check on their stats in real-time, while also giving me unique traits depending on the person chosen. It gave him an advantage over others.

A truly wicked smile formed on my face.

Playfully thinking about how screwed my past self was going to be while pressing on that blue screen.

Two words playfully appeared in my head…

…'Mate Bond'.

From what Faith told me, this used to be a sign of intimate friendship and connection on a spiritual level. Historically, those with this bond became the most trustworthy comrades of one another.

Nowadays, Mate Bonds seemed to be used differently. Helping werewolves find their 'Mate'.

The romantic partner they'd spend their lives with.

'This should work fine.' A thin smile arose from each side of my cheeks. It was fun making traps.

I wondered how my past self would react.

"Hmm?" The blue screen showing my Player Connections gradually reddened before fading.

It looked like I'd caused some domino effect.

The trait I got from connecting with Sapphire Swordwick, 'Skill Tree', seemed to have found its roots. Miracle Gamer of Taboo Fate and the many skills left in my old stat screen fused together.

[Error… Error…]

It looked like I'd need to intervene. Miracle Gamer of Taboo Fate was too big of a monster to swallow.

There was no way a trait could devour a Gift.

I cut the connection off and recreated my status.

[-Name: Adam Graham (Adam Ocelot Black)

-Race: Werewolf (Black)

-Special Characteristic: Alpha Gene, Spirit Wolf 

-Inborn Gift: Miracle Gamer of Taboo Fate (Shut Down)]

I clicked on 'Miracle Gamer of Taboo System' and dragged it into 'Alpha Gene'. It started to disappear.

[-Name: Adam Graham (Adam Ocelot Black)

-Race: Werewolf (Black)

-Special Characteristic: Alpha Gene, Spirit Wolf 

-Inborn Gift: None]

Satisfied, I looked at the parameters that could be altered using my character creation screen.

Hmmm…

[Power Tier= D (Common)

Agility Tier= C (Rare)

Speed Tier= D (Common)

Defence Tier= D (Common)

Magic Tier= F (Failure)

Combat Prowess= ??? (Unknown)]

This was the base parameters I had before death.

I couldn't go beyond my past limits, but being reborn as a werewolf would definitely bolster this.

Power Tier= C (Rare)

Agility Tier= B (Unique)

Speed Tier= C (Rare)

Defence Tier= C (Rare)

Magic Tier= D (Common)

Combat Prowess= ??? (Unknown)]

Finally, I was able to improve my natural limits compared to before. This should help immensely.

Now… was there anything left?

Maybe I should make some 'Loot Boxes' that can only be given to my friends. I grasped the best Skills from my current life and split them into five abilities, then discarded the rest to boost them.

Five gem-like boxes appeared in front of me.

One was for myself, while the others would be split between each 'Mate' I bound my past self to.

This was the best I could do.

Whatever happened now would be up to the dice thrown. How these randomised elements worked.

No amount of planning could grasp the future, so I could only believe that things would be better now.

I pressed on 'Enter'.

[Character complete.]

[Taboo System is burned. Because you have no Inborn Gift anymore, a new one shall be created.]

[Randomly generating a Gift.]

[Success… Prepare memory wipe and soul 'Reset'.]

I gave the Taboo System an imaginary salute while feeling my memories being peeled off bit by bit.

Back to the same day I arrived on Gaia. 

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