As we fell through the darkness, her incessant crying stopped, as the fear of the unknown gripped the both of us in the silence of the abyss.
"It'll be alright, it'll be alright."
Muttering this whilst stroking her head with my thumb, I tried my best to calm her down, knowing full well that it was I that needed to calm down the most between the two of us.
"Your big brother is here for you, so don't worry and fall asleep."
Continuing to stroke head, I waited until she finally fell asleep.
And then, I finally voiced it out, my thoughts of what had happened.
"System?"
Timidly crying out, I looked around for a blue screen, one that would pop up if my hypothesis had been correct.
[Welcome, Player 77, to "Nullspace".]
Seeing this, my eyes immediately hardened, as all fear left my eyes.
Sure, there was still a little bit of uncertainty still contained in my heart, but by now, I had become almost 100% sure about my hypothesis.
'Falling into a hole that suddenly appeared after hearing strange sounds in my ear, traversing the darkness until the first sound is made, calling the fallen a "Player", and a place called the "Nullspace", everything is exactly as I described...'
My novel, somehow, the events of the first chapter were unfolding before my eyes.
But, right now, it wasn't time to think about the useless things. Knowing exactly what would happen next, I calmed myself once more, as the excitement was getting to me a little bit, and I called out to the system once more.
"System, I'd like to change my player name."
[Would you like to reset your "true name"?]
"Yes."
[Warning, a true name will stick with you for the rest of your life once you arrive in the "Badlands". Please procure a name after careful consideration. Also, keep in mind that any name already in use won't be available, so please think of a unique name.]
"Hitori. Please grant my wish to change my "true name" to "Hitori"."
[Ding! Change successful. "Player 77" is now "Hitori".]
"Could I please change the name of my sister too?"
[Scanning lifeform...]
[Error! Multiple life-forms detected.]
[Searching for solutions...]
[Searching for past cases...]
[No precedents found!]
[Commencing analysis of unique scenario.]
[Calling in higher being to judge the scenario.]
[Summoning "Ariel".]
And then, a bright light completely encapsulated my vision, something close to a diety descended into my specific "nullspace".
A silence descended soon after, as I waited for "Ariel" to judge the situation.
It actually only took a few minutes, as the bright light that had almost blinded me quickly left, and I was once again left in the darkness.
[Moderator, "Ariel", has cast the dice and judged the situation in full fairness. "Player 78" will now become an "item" bounded to "Hitori" until they reach an age of "viable intelligence". Please name your bounded item, "Hitori".]
'An item? Well, it makes things easier for me then, but it'll also make things harder for her...'
"Her name will be Eiko."
[Changing "Player 78" status to "Bound Item". Changing the true name of "Player 78" to "Eiko". "Hitori" can now place "Eiko" in their "Inventory".]
Immediately after hearing this system notification, I placed my baby sister in my inventory without a moment of hesitation, as I moved in a way that I had imagined many times over.
[Warning! "Eiko" will be frozen in time once placed in the inventory of "Hitori". Please allow "Eiko" enough time to grow to a viable age by taking her out of the inventory once every...]
[Caluculating...]
[Ding! 5 days.]
[For an amount of...]
[Calculating...]
[Ding! 10 hours.]
Sighing, I could only commend the system that I had created for its fairness in dealing with my situation, as I would have done the exact same thing if I was the moderator and had come upon this situation.
Well, now that all of that trouble had passed by, it would be safe to assume that the events that I had written in the first chapter of the novel would resume again.
[User, "Hitori", please choose one gift from the starter pack:
1. Unlimited Storage Space
2. Monster Hunter Skill
3. "One Who Hungers Not" Attribute]
"Please bestow the gift of "One Who Hungers Not" Attribute to both myself and my bound item."
[Gift bestowed. Transporting user, "Hitori", to the "Tutorial Area" of the "Badlands.]
[Good luck, chosen one.]
And with that, my eyes were forced close, as I lost consciousness for an unknown amount of time.
...
[Welcome User, "Hitori", to the Badlands.]
Opening my eyes due to the notification, I quickly took in my surroundings, confirming that I truly had found myself in a place familiar to my imagination.
'A blue dome covering my body, hundreds of other blue domes spread across a dry, windy plateau, and a silver-haired Asian situated in a blue pod near the edge of the cliff. Yup, this is the exact scene.'
Now, the only thing that I needed to confirm was the number of the regression that the main character of the novel was currently on, as I needed to be able to plan out my strategy as quickly as possible.
"System, can I inspect that user over there?"
[Checking feasibility... Ding! User, "Player 1", has not touched his privacy settings yet, and thus, "Hitori", will be able to see a portion of the stats of "Player 1".]
'No privacy settings? Definitely a one-digit run-through then.'
[Pulling up the stats of "Player 1" for "Hitori" to see.]
'And a default name too? He's definitely still in one of his first 3 regressions.'
[User Name - "Player 1"
Atk: 10
Def: 10
Magic: 10
Intelligence: 30
Stamina: 10
Trait(s): " "]
'Well well well, lookie here. It seems like the dude's only on his second regression.'
Meaning, he had only lived life twice, had just died to the 13th calamity, and had regressed for the second time, starting his third life.
'That makes a lot of things easier for me, but at the same time, many other things will be harder for me too.'
After all, all the disaster-causing things that the main character was supposed to take care of in all of his later regressions would have to be taken care of by me or an intermediate, as he was way too green right now for a regressor.
Even now, just taking a look at him, I knew that, although he had a stone-cold face after having lost his life and loved one for a second time, he was still a little apprehensive, scared, and too trusting of the system.
The system operated on the balance of equivalence, and due to his identity of being a regressor, an existence that broke this sense of balance, it was a given that the system actually made his life harder than most other users.
'Well, he'll learn this along the way. Right now, I have to focus on my immediate survival.'
Looking up at the sky, I watched as the timer there ticked down to zero.
[5]
[4]
[3]
[2]
[1]
[The barriers will now be dropped. Your goal: To survive for as long as possible. There are no rules, and no act will be punished. Live how you want, but keep in mind one word at all times.]
[Survival.]
[Good luck, and don't die, chosen ones.]
And with that, the blue domes that had both imprisoned us and protected us fell.
As chaos started to break out, and the peace was disturbed, I could only take in a deep breath of the iron-filled air.
Society was now a useless word, and humanity was now no more.
In this place, only one thing remained supreme over all.
"Power."
Muttering those words, I took my first step, my first step to both my future and my destiny.
"Eiko, please don't copy your brother when you grow up."
With a sheepish grin plastered on my face, I started running, running away from the blood bath, as a coward with no power to his name.
After all, why the fuck would I even join in when my basic stats looked like this?
[User Name - "Hitori"
Atk: 3
Def: 2
Magic: 11
Intelligence: 70
Stamina: 1
Trait(s): "One Who Hungers Not"]
It was better to run, hide, and wait for a better day. This would be the only way that I could survive.
"But man, I'm already setting a bad example, aren't I?"
Immediately shaking away these useless thoughts from my mind, I continued running forward with my head down.
After having descended from the plateau in a much safer way than jumping off the cliff as the protagonist would do in a few moments, I slithered into one of the caves carved into the cliff face.
Immediately collapsing, I took in large breaths of air, as I caught my breath after all that running.
Flipping myself over, I stared at the ceiling of the cave I was in.
"hehehehahaHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Letting out a laugh, as all my pent-up emotions rushed out all at once, I couldn't help but cry a few tears in happiness.
"Wait a little bit, mister godly MC, I'll catch up with you soon."
I continued to chuckle my stomach out all the way until the sun set under the horizon.
"Haha, ha, ha... ha."