'Where am I?'
Jack thought to himself, was it the afterlife that he was going for? Was it the river styx and the unamusing treatment made by the commissaries of hell?
He certainly wouldn't believe that he would go to heaven. He had killed a lot of people in his former life.
When a dead soul doesn't go through the sterilization process, their thoughts and memories linger like honey on their impure soul.
'Whatever, guess resting is the most plausible choice at this point. Can't bother with every droplet.'
Three days then passed. Jack was deprived of his senses, feeling like he was floating in an eternal void of darkness. It was pleasant, feeling as if he was floatie in a pool, letting the ripples in the water guide him.
[Establishing connection with new User_
[Rooting complete.]
[Processing the data to emulate vessel creation_
[Data not found.]
[Extracting Jack Armstrong's soul memory_
[A reference is found.]
A moment later, Jack felt a rather warm feeling creeping up to his seamless existence. There was no receptor or any kind of perception but he really felt like being put into an oven.
Later, he got annoyed. Before his soul wanted to throw a tantrum, he felt like he got stuffed into a fleshy object the size of a small mole rat.
[Reference vagueness from Jack Armstrong's memory has made a hurdle on the 'human' creation process_
[Proceed to give zero flip and improvise the unfinished project.]
The heat receded for a moment, the numb sensation returning before it suddenly spiked higher than it had before. It was as if someone was slow cooking him at first, turned off the knob before revving the thing to max.
'Urgh, it's extremely hot! Holy hellfire of Satan! Am I being cooked in hell!?' Jack thought, as his new vessel was incapable of basic speech.
[The Ultraviolet Radiation is higher than the 'Human' heat tolerance_
[The surrounding grains of sand in contact has also impeded the 'Human' growth. The System needs to rush for a solution to preserve the newborn vessel of Jack Armstrong_
[Data reference acquired from Jack Armstrong's memory. Numerous living beings have been able to protect and preserve the premature stage of their newborn with the act of Oviparity.]
[Improvised Egg Shell schematic acquired.]
[The project assimilation requires 500 Reality Fragments_
[Proceed; hunt for an alternative to use the existing material>]
'I am getting smoked alive, and why is this strange screen beeping and typing in my head!?'
Jack didn't even have the chance to try to understand the situation he was in. Because the pain of his exposed, unclean and seared skin was just too unbearable for any sane person.
Jack couldn't even open his eyes but the sheer brightness from the sun in this world was enough to blind him even in his blind state. Which was twice as blind.
The weak vessel was on the verge of death for a long time. It was the stimulant from the system's roots that prevented Jack from dying and passing out.
Which had became an absolute torture.
[Eggshell is made almost entirely of calcium carbonate crystal. The possibility of replacing the material with a ceramic biocementation of sands is 100%]
'I don't care if I will be put into an egg or a trash can. This pain is more absurd than being thrown into a pit of lava!'
The next thing Jack knew that he was put into a deep sleep. He didn't feel the same pain and uncomfort as much anymore, but it did keep him rather paranoid on what will happen next.
Fortunately, his soul was as dense as a primordial due to the time spent in that white void-like space. His soul also pertained its capability to process information despite having been turned into a premature juvenile.
It was quite obvious to him that he wasn't in the afterlife or hell. Then again, he didn't know if hell had blaring screens popping up left and right while showcasing random words and numbers.
The best possible action that he decided to do is to shut down his own mind and let time uncover everything for him. Patience is key, but acknowledgement is gold.
Despite having knowledge and experience older and more vast than any man ever lived—despite most of it being him being trapped in a white demi-empty space, this experience of being dropped in the unknown made him more paranoid than ever.
Only the beating of his own heart accompanied him within his journey.
Not before long, a year had passed. He finally churned a thought from his panicking mess that had lessened.
'Strange,' The word echoed in his mind.
His soul was in deep hibernation so he didn't feel much of that cryptic nonsense, but his consciousness wondered why it took that long.
By no means did he know what was going on outside, but the 'system' message that he perceived before sleeping mentioned something about Eggshell and using sands as the material alternative. It made him curious.
'Am I going to be reincarnated into that fierce, scary, and prehistoric guardian? I hope I became that one with the T on it. Heh, looks fun.'
Years upon years passed him by within the ethereal darkness spent upon doing nothing but waiting. A small sense of deja vu hit him, the early years of his involuntary isolation coming back to him. He did have some form of entertainment in the form of random numbers going up and down but it wasn't a sassy artificial intelligence made out of nanobots.
He missed his digital friend already.
Just as when he began to question his hope of freedom, the strange beeping screen projection appeared within his mind once again.
[Reconstructing the DNA_
[A strange mutation had impeded the host's chromosomes. If continued even further it will lead to the destruction of fertility and eventually the host's life_
[The system has calculated that it will be safer if the host's reproduction tool is severed completely. The host can still reproduce using unorthodox means or when the host is able to do something with his reproductive parts again in the future.]
'... Wait, what is this weird Digilite doing!? What the hell does that mean!? I'm fine if I get turned into some fine and gorgeous lady instead, but nothing at all underneath!?! I don't accept this! Just let me die, dang it!'
[Killing the host is not within the protocol of Project Sephiroth.]
'... Sephiroth?'
Hearing that word once again, a surge of relief rushed in every direction. Until the realization of him knowing Sephiroth's tendency to troll started to kick in.
'DAMN YOU, SEPHIROTH! UNROOT FROM MY SOUL THIS INSTANCE!'
[Heh, can't do it, Old Fart.]
The same as Sephiroth, hearing his name getting mentioned within his host's consciousness strings gave him a stimulant of relief to his main frame.
Although he had lost many of his important utilities, resources, and information, the memory of his friend that he accompanied for eons was still there.
'AAAAAHHHHH!'
Before Jack knew it, he could suddenly move his new body. Wrapped in numerous soft tissues and liquid, he lash out his frustration with aggressive kicking until a crack could be heard.
Jack Armstrong was reborn.
His eyes met with the blinding light and heat from the sun. His body seemed to be more mature than what he had anticipated. It was likely to be the body of a 10-year old. Nervous, he gulped his saliva before saying his first words.
"Holy squirrel, where are we?"