Planet Earth, Year 1 A.I. (July 2023 C.E., 15 Weeks after System Integration.)

“Ugh,” I mumble as I stretch my neck and shoulders about. I guess the fights with Serrena, Elissa and Zethira, and that band of strange warriors that might’ve been superheroes, all together took quite a lot out of me. I don’t feel any pain. Not really, in any case. A good bit of stiffness, and a lot of lightheadedness. I think that’s the consequence of having a bunch of healing magic and effects used on me multiple times throughout yesterday’s trials.

And I have another new memory for my trouble. Apparently in my past life, I was a bit of a troublemaker. Considering the number of times since the System arrived where I have acted either with no regard or blatant disregard for established lawful authority, I must admit that that much… really hasn’t changed between worlds and dimensions.

With a glow of teal light, I pull the remainder of last night’s bottle of water out of my [Inventory]. Still vaguely cool to the touch, which mostly confirms that there’s some sort of stasis effect or time dilation or other anti-spoilage property for the items I deposit this way. Truly a remarkable ability that will completely upend everything from logistics to combat to security to even things like disaster recovery and relief… which probably does fall under the broad mantle of ‘logistics’, now that I think about it.

I am curious what happens to an [Inventory] if its owner dies for whatever reason. Not enough to try to find that out for myself. I doubt the gathered items just sprawl out in the middle of conventional space, right on top of their former owner’s body. My conjecture— formed without any evidence at all— is that these items somehow get recycled by the System and reappear in dungeons as loot for people to pick up. It would explain the wide variety of items we find inside, and maybe how they seem to suspiciously line up with the types of items that our classes can use.

I glug down the entire half-bottle in a few seconds, leaving the bottle out to be thrown in the recycle container later. I should also see if there’s a physical storage capacity for my [Inventory]. Could we use [Inventory] as a way to solve the whole landfill and pollution issue? Just have everyone take a few cubic yards of trash and forget about it? I have to assume the answers are yes, there’s a limit, and no, that won’t work as a result. But it is the sort of thing I feel I ought to be thinking about, now that I have this power.

Though, that’s a longer-term affair. For now, breakfast. And I’m thinking biscuits and gravy… assuming Mrs. Jacobs has some breakfast sausage and gravy mix around somewhere. Which, as I peruse the stocks of food in the pantry, it appears she does. My stomach grumbles as I prepare the oven and a skillet and get to work cooking everything.

I speed up the process a little bit, using my [Heat] glyph to accelerate the preheating of all the cooking implements, and within twenty minutes, everything is fully cooked. The biscuits are warm and fluffy, with a hint of golden brown courtesy of the Maillard reaction, and the gravy is perfectly smooth, not a hint of flour lump to be found. A little runnier, but it’ll thicken as it sets more.

And I’m just in time, coming up the stairs right as Chloe sends me an indignant ping through our bond, telling me exactly where she wants me— in her arms, on our bed. Her mood brightens as I float up the stairs and into our room, two plates of food in hand. She pats the bed, and I take a seat.

“Oh…” Chloe says. “I don’t suppose you could head downstairs and grab the strawberry jelly.”

I smile. I hold my hands out in front of her, showing her that both are empty. Then, without missing a beat, I reach behind my back and summon it forth from my [Inventory], revealing it to her a moment later before handing it over. And Chloe, even though she knows the ‘trick’, plays along, giving a look of astonishment followed by a clap and a kiss.

Perhaps a small abuse of power, using real magic to imitate one of the most classic stage illusions. But by the standards of what I could but won’t do, it’s honestly pretty tame. And I don’t see Chloe wagging her finger at me for doing so, suggesting I’m probably in the legal clear.

“What kind of plans do you have for today?” Chloe asks as she takes a large and cute bite of her jam-covered biscuit.

And oh goodness, there’s a lot of things to do. I need to give Mr. Richardson a call to see what’s coming down the legal pipeline in the next few months. I also need to get in contact with the university and let them know that I’m interested, and that means I need to start getting something resembling lesson plans for when classes start… goodness, that’s less than two months away now. Everything should still work out fine. Assuming Murphy doesn’t show up to ruin things, which, considering I just invoked His name, suggests it probably will. Ah well, nothing I can do except roll with the punches when they inevitably come.

“I’m not sure. Feeling a little overwhelmed about it all.”

“What can we do today?” She leans in next to me, resting on my shoulder.

“What do you want to do today? We already spent the last two days doing what I wanted to do.”

Chloe giggles. “We did do a lot of what I wanted to do last night. Both before and after we came home.” She takes my hand in her own. “But honestly, I’m just… happy that you asked.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to feel like we’re only ever doing the things you want to do.”

“And I’m happy you’re being considerate and thinking about my wants. But I’m not sure either of us have the luxury to do only what we want to do.”

“I don’t think anyone really has the luxury to always do only what they want.”

Yeah. I’d love to do nothing for a couple days right about now, but I’m like my old self in at least one regard. And while I’m not convinced that we need to have assigned tasks and do wage labor to feel satisfied, I do think we need some sort of challenges and aspirations to truly feel fulfilled afterwards. Whether that’s just the daily challenges of surviving life or some greater ambition that we overcome after months or maybe even decades of consistent effort.

“I suppose not,” I say. “I think I should head down to the university and try to figure out how the whole teaching and research thing is going to work. That, and I think we both need some new weapons.”

“Why’s that?”

“I had a dream of my past life. In that dream, I had a powerful [Identify] Skill.”

Chloe chuckles. “Are you sure you weren’t having a delusion?”

“Never can tell when it comes to these dreams. But in any case, I got a glimpse of the weapon I was using at the time. And of the weapon Madison wielded. They were… much, much stronger than anything I’ve been able to build to this point. And I think that acquiring better gear is just as important to gaining more strength as gaining Levels and Skills.”

“You’re only just now thinking that?” Chloe asks me with a wry smile.

“I mean, I thought as much before. But now I know that’s the truth.”

“Assuming your visions are the truth.” Chloe’s tone and grin both suggest that she’s merely teasing me.

“Yeah. I guess I better hope that I’m not making an ass of myself.”

----------------------------------------

Half past eight rolls around soon enough, and we’re off toward downtown. Not to the Tower, and unless I’ve managed to jinx myself, not into any imminent danger. Well, except maybe of the legal and contractual variety, but there shouldn’t be any risk of dying.

I’m a bit surprised to see a handful of other people flying around this morning. I look around, wondering if Yulia is among them. She’s not, so far as I can tell. Then again, she doesn’t seem like the type who likes to flaunt her strength around. It makes me wonder what her past life was like. And the world in which she once lived.

How many such worlds are out there? What are they like? How do the people there live their lives? How many of them have magic? How many have been touched… corrupted… destroyed… by the System over innumerable eons? Was Yulia’s world one of them?

My musing is cut short as we touch down on the university outskirts. No fanfare or university liaisons to greet me, thankfully. Even if I might be a celebrity in some sense, that doesn’t mean I want a literal red carpet rolled out for me wherever I go. I don’t much care for the paparazzi, and I doubt Chloe is interested in all that attention as well.

“Do you want to wait out here? Or, I dunno…” I ask. “I have a feeling that this is going to take a while.”

Chloe just smiles. “It’s funny. I figured we’d be heading to university to attend classes together. Not to have you teach the classes.”

“Maybe you should guest lecture about the nature of healing magic? I bet your insights would be invaluable for trying to figure out how to make more powerful healing charms and similar.”

“I thought you said that you couldn’t create healing magic with your [Glyphcasting].”

“I can’t as I am now; I lack the knowledge of how to build such a complex array. But, humanity collectively knows a lot about how life works. And I know that it is possible in theory. Anything we can do through mundane means, we should be able to mimic with magic. It just might take a long time.”

Chloe smiles. “Then, perhaps I should see what I can do on that front.”

We make our way over to the main office for the Department of Mechanical Engineering. Dr. O’Neal isn’t in— expected, considering it is the day after the Fourth of July, in the doldrums of the summer session, right when most of the professors would be likeliest to be on vacation. But the department’s administrative assistant— Ms. Nora Rachel— is present, sitting at her desk and playing Minesweeper on the computer. She has a sheepish look on her face, but I feel no need to call her out on enjoying her downtime.

“Oh… Seraphina, right?” she says, looking up from her desk.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Rachel.”

“Oh, please, just call me Nora. We’re going to be working together starting in only seven weeks now.”

Now it’s my turn to act sheepish. It’s one thing to know as much cerebrally. It’s quite another to go from referring to instructors deferentially as Mr. So-and-So just a few months ago to being colleagues with them and addressing them on a first-name basis.

“Apologies for the lack of notice. We’ve been busy the last several days and have only just had a chance to stop by. I think there’s some paperwork that I need to fill out?”

“Oh, yes, of course. It will take just a second to print everything out. While we’re waiting on that, let me grab a key and show you to your office. And then we’ll need to get you set up in the computer system, get you access to all the databases to submit grades and maintain your roster and everything else. It’s all done through an online cloud service, so that shouldn’t be too difficult. And then– Oh, and if you need some water, please let me know.”

I can’t help but smile. I might be a scatterbrained, sometimes short-sighted, and occasionally misguided person. I might’ve made some mistakes… Okay, a lot of mistakes, and I’ve probably not used the powers I’ve been given in the best possible ways. But I think this is going to be a good step forward. With any luck, it will be so for everyone involved.