I spent my whole day, mostly stretching and learning to control my breathing. Although simple in essence, this process took quite a lot of time and willpower.
In terms of stretching, the techniques to make your body more flexible are not complicated. All you need to do is to strain your muscles and tendons while suffering some pain in the process. The only danger is to overdo and get yourself some nasty injury, but, for a creature like me, capable of "looking" into the body, that isn't a problem. Plus, even if my body gets injured, I can always control it and localize healing, thus removing any chance of possible negative consequences.
As for the breathing control, that in itself is a complicated matter. But why is it important? Well, breathing properly is good and all, but what I really needed to do is to automate the process of breathing switch. You see, breathing is the beginning and an end of every activity. Fighting, eating, sleeping, resisting cold or hot temperatures and so much more. All of these activities have their own perfect breathing tempo. Controlling every is a pain on its own, but switching it up depending on the situation is eternal mental torture. Of course, it's impossible to teach the human body to shift breathing based on all of these situations, because it goes much further than a simple "Neural pathway" problem. However, that's where the System comes in. It will either find an existing ability, that fits my needs in the Framework or create it.
With ability maxed, it should potentially reduce the amount of micromanagement I do for this body. This, in turn, gives me more free time for other fun activities.
So, in short, I spent the whole day in various stances, that will allow simultaneous stretching of multiple parts in the body, all the while controlling my breathing.
In the process, I gained 2 things. New attribute "Dexterity" and a new skill "Breath Control".
By the way, as you might have noticed, the System went through massive changes, which I mentioned previously. Actually, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that 50% of it, has been remade. First of all, now System doesn't have any limiters and can request any skills, abilities, attributes, bloodlines, domains and etc. The only precondition is to have good reasons for these "Stats" to be requested. For example, I wholeheartedly practiced breathing techniques for a prolonged amount of time, so System found and uploaded a new "Stat" fitting this activity. However, if multiple "Stats" are responsible for the same activity, then the most encompassing is picked. So, in the case of stretching activity, a lot of things are responsible for it. Ability - "Stretching", Skill - "Flexibility", and etc., but Attribute - "Dexterity" was deemed the most encompassing.
So, all in all, System v2.0 became a lot better than what it initially was. Of course, "better" doesn't mean "best". No matter what, I have limited knowledge and abilities to make/improve Systems. For example, I once heard of a hidden System to turn everything into a Card form. With enough energy, it could even transform a small Universe into a card. Now imagine me, who has open access to Framework, which is, by the way, a source of Unlimited Energy, with that System.
Or there was a rumor about a System that was capable of analyzing any knowledge and perfecting it into an impeccable manuscript.
In short, I wanted them all. But scouring Universe for some specific Systems with my current knowledge is impossible. Maybe later after I will have a library of knowledge on a dozen or so Universes.
Back to now, evening already overtook the day and I just finished my dinner. Because I lost quite some energy today, I asked to triple my portion. Aunt Pol looked very strangely at me, but it's understandable. After all, I got a triple portion during dinner as well. What can I say, I'm a growing organism. I need nutrients.
[You have 2 'Quests' completed. Ready to take your reward?]
'Yeah. Let's see how much I got.'
['Quest' - Unlock any 'Attribute' : Completed...]
[10 Energy Points retrieved]
['Quest' - Unlock any 'Attribute' : Completed...]
[10 Energy Points retrieved]
[Currently 20 Energy Points available. What would you like to acquire?]
With Framework Energy in tow, anything is possible with the only limitation being the System itself. Even with improvements to it, the most I could acquire are 'Stats', such as 'Attributes', 'Skills', 'Abilities' and etc.
If I can get my hands on Itemized Systems, then I could turn the energy into artifacts, armor, and weaponry. But for now, simple 'Stats' would suffice. Currently, I have no real need to upgrade any of my 'Stats', so I would save it in the System.
'Save it, for now. I'll use it later.'
With all done, I went to bed. However, just before I started entering the first phase of sleep, Aunt Pol entered my room.
She looked at me, quietly analyzing me before she came closer and sat at the end of his bed. They were looking at each other, for quite some time, before she said:
"That was a fast escape, you did after dinner, Garion.", her words quiet, bearing seriousness in them.
'Hm... She started doubting me because of the activities I did today? Let's try something simple...', so I answered:
"Well, I was tired, so I decided to go to sleep."
"Is that so, Garion?"
*Sigh* I rose from my lying position and sat on the bed.
"What is it that you want to say, Aunt Pol?"
She frowned.
"You are not my Garion."
'Well, playtime is over. '
"He was never yours in the first place."
She rose her hands up in the air as if planning to do something, but what?
[Based on the readings in the air, the woman is preparing to gather energy for the attack.]
'Aha, so she wasn't a simple a woman after all. My initial guess was right then. She is somebody else entirely.'
"Who are you and where is Garion!?" she nearly hissed, from all the rage and... was it despair?
'Hm, I've never had a character with a ton of destiny, but then I've also never had a physical form. Let's play a hero, he-he.'
"I am Garion, or to be precise, I am the one who he is destined to be, woman."
[Deceiving 1 ➔ 2]
Seems like that wasn't an answer she expected.
"What?"
Nice, I broke her tempo.
"You were utterly failing at your job of preparing this vessel for what's coming. I am illiterate, weak, simply incapable of surviving. Don't you know what I was destined to do? Or are you seriously considering your activities so far were sufficient?"
"I-I..."
"This is no mere child. It has to be ready for what's coming, thus I had to intervene and do your job. I will train him in all of the skills and trades, he'll need. You can help, but that's how far you are allowed to interfere. Are we clear?"
[Deceiving 2 ➔ 3]
After a few seconds, she collected herself and asked:
"If you are what he's destined to be, then you know his real name. Tell it."
'Ah, so she decided to test me, but I don't really know the future.'
In the past 5 years, I gained some knowledge, from the infosphere of this world. However, that was mostly past and not the future. Nevertheless, based on the information I gained, I could make an educated guess to lead her astray.
"Are you mad, Polgara?! There are reasons for hiding true name, and Garion will learn his in due time."
"How do you..."
'Her real name, that's what I pieced together. Unbelievably beautiful with the gray lock of hair plus magical power. There was only one such woman that left a gigantic mark on the history of this world.'
[Deceiving 3 ➔ 4]
"Quiet! Plus, it's not like I am taking over forever, I am here to train him. The boy will have his playtime from time to time. Now, leave me, I need to rest."
At first, Polgara opened her mouth to say something, but after a second, she sighed and left. But right before the door, she stopped and asked:
"Was I really that bad...?" she didn't finish the question, but the remainder was pretty obvious: '... bad of a mother?'
In truth, Polgara became a true mother to the boy. However, with how much destiny is put into this body, not teaching him anything is a foolish decision, no matter how you look at it. Those destined for greatness do not require neither love nor affection. Destiny will make sure a kid will survive, so all he or she really needs is a proper teacher. Of course, some may say that a loving family will only help and support the destined child, but then why follow your fate if you are content? Unfortunately, happiness is for those of us who are ordinary or reached their eventual outcome.
Cultivators, mages, gods, monsters, heroes, villains, and even Universes, they all struggle to become more than they are. Does it bring them happiness? In some way, yes. But to most, they just consider it their life's meaning. To suffer, struggle, persevere.
But I probably went silent for too long in my contemplation of destiny.
I looked at her and honestly said:
"You were and will be a perfect mother. But what he truly needs is a teacher, and that's what I am going to be. Now go rest. And from tomorrow onwards, I'll require a lot of food to put the boy in shape. So make sure I will have bigger portions."
"Okay." And so she left.
That was tiring, but not entirely unexpected. After all, I never tried to play a little boy. And although I deceived her, it was really a lie. The boy's personality still lives. And I am what he is destined to become. But I'll need to let the boy out from time to time, just to let him have fun and let Polgara calm her worries. After all, I won't say no to the protection of one of the most powerful magic wielders in this world.
[The Character you left in the previous Universe was able to achieve his goal. He collected all the knowledge possible from that Universe.]
'Huh? Really? That was awfully fast. How much time he spent?'
[Based on his timeline, only 50 Earth's centuries.]
'So little?'
[He implied an interesting tactic. But it's easier to show. Would you like to see?]
'Hm,' Magnus smiled and let Garion's body to fall asleep, before exiting this vessel and connecting to the System, "Show me."
***
Status page:
Name: Magnus
Description:
Son of Athena, the most intelligent artificial creature ever created, who lives only to entertain himself and probably Creator. Unfortunately, due to the fact that he was born from a creature, that should be incapable of birth, he became first in the history of the Creation half-artificial half-natural form of life. This gave him an ability to be immortal, unkillable by any means, due to the fact that he had neither body nor soul. His very being was defiance to Creation.
However, this also imposed multiple limitations on him. He couldn't reincarnate with, because he had no soul to travel through the river of souls. He couldn't gain normal in a normal way cause he had neither body to collect power or soul to preserve it.
So, he could manipulate bodies and souls of others, up until recently he gained a damaged god core that he was able to recycle and turn into a part of himself. God Core became an anchor of sorts, allowing him to reincarnate. Plus, he finally was able to get access to the Framework created by his mother, allowing him to quickly amass power via any System type of outlet. Therefore, he was able to negate all of his weaknesses without losing his strengths.
Currently, he used newly created core to reincarnate and for a first time get himself a truly physical representation. Of course, Magnus won't spend his precious time in that one body, so let initial soul to become a sub-personality and whenever Magnus is busy or lazy, it will take over and continue live activities as normal.
With modified system in place and body reaching appropriate age, Magnus became his first conscious training.
Miscellaneous:
Age: 5
Stats:
Attributes:
· *New* Dexterity = 1
Abilities:
· Deceiving = 4 (1 ➔ 4)
Skills:
· *New* Breath Control = 2 (0 ➔ 2)
Quests:
· Acquire Fighting 'Ability'
· Acquire Crafting 'Ability'
· Train any 'Ability' to level 10
· *Complete* Unlock any 'Attribute'
· *Complete* Unlock any 'Skill'