[Neural signature confirmed. Initialization commencing.]
Before Reid could react, the core-like device latched onto his hand and dissolved into his skin.
A pain unlike anything he had ever experienced shot through his entire body, forcing him to collapse onto the floor.
He flickered between consciousness and unconsciousness, his screams echoing within the soundproof bunker.
"Argh!!" he roared in agony, but no one outside could hear him. The bunker's design ensured no sound escaped its confines.
Rusty and Nyx watched him with worry, their inability to help leaving them frozen in place. They didn't know how to ease the torment Reid was enduring.
His screams went on for a grueling 30 minutes before subsiding. Finally, silence fell, leaving Reid drenched in sweat, his breathing ragged.
As his vision, blurred by pain, began to clear, a screen appeared before his eyes:
[Initialization Complete. Evolution Codex successfully bonded with host.]
Before Reid could process what he was seeing, a feminine voice echoed in his mind.
[Hello, host,] the voice greeted.
Reid, still sore from the ordeal, abruptly sat up, his eyes darting around the room in search of the speaker.
[I'm speaking directly into your mind, host,] the voice explained.
"My mind?" Reid asked, confusion evident in his voice. "How the hell are you in my head?"
[It's possible because of the bond we formed moments ago,] she replied calmly.
Nyx and Rusty exchanged glances, baffled. Just moments ago, Reid had been writhing in agony, and now he was talking to himself. However, through their shared connection, they could sense that something about him had changed.
"So you're the reason for that awful pain," Reid muttered, glaring at the empty air.
[I apologize for the pain you experienced but it was necessary since an upgrade in your soul power had to be done] She explained calmly.
"Okay, so who or what are you?" Reid continued his questions "And why did you bond with me?".
[I am the Evolution Codex, more information of me will be directly injected in your brain, brace yourself] she stated.
Before Reid could ask more questions, another wave of pain hit him. This one coming directly from the influx of information being uploaded in his brain and although it wasn't as painful as the first time, it still disoriented him.
A few minutes later the pain stopped, leaving behind a new set of information in his head.
'Holy shit' Reid mentally cursed due to the newly gained information.
Firstly, the Evolution Codex was made by an unknown forge master. The forge master locked the Codex with a DNA lock making it impossible for someone else to unlock it.
Well almost, it turns out the Codex can also choose its hosts and for some reason, it chose Reid.
Now to the interesting part. The Evolution Codex's main function was simply to help evolve Forged beasts. There was currently no way to normally do so, once a forged beasts has created at a certain rank, it stays at that rank.
That was why failed forged beasts were scrapped since there was simply no way to upgrade it from barely iron tier to silver tire or higher.
But according to the information dumped in Reid's head, this Evolution Codex could allow just that and not just once, a forged beast can be evolved as many times as possible.
"So, this Codex... it's going to help me evolve my beasts?" Reid asked aloud, his voice rough from the earlier screams. "Why me, though? Why did it pick me?"
The feminine voice echoed in his mind again.
[The Codex chose you because of your soul power.Not everyone can bond with the Codex—it requires a soul that resonates with its power.]
He ran a hand through his hair, his thoughts racing. "So if I use this Codex to evolve my forged beasts, they can get stronger—maybe even infinitely stronger?"
[That is correct] she affirmed.
Letting out a sigh, he took a couple of minutes to digest the information before speaking again.
"Alright, let's see what you can do" Reid said "Open Status".
After the command was given, a window popped up in front of Reid's face.
[
Name: Reid
Age:.17
Rank: Iron Ranked Tamer
Soul power: Iron Rank
---
[Evolution Codex]
Inventory: a space you can store your forged beasts
Evolve: Provides a blueprint for evolving your forged beasts.
Forge: A space equipped with all you need to update your forged beasts.
----
[Forged Beasts]
Rusty
Species: A mouse.
HP: [100/100]
Rank: Lower than Iron-tier
Abilities:
Flicker: a skill which allows it to teleportation within a small range.
Delayed Reaction: Slows down opponents within a short radius for five seconds, making them appear sluggish or delayed in their actions.
Nyx
Species: A moth
Hp: [100/100]
Rank: Lower than Iron-tier
Abilities:
Void: The moth can momentarily disappear and reappear in a different location a meter around it.
Smoke screen: Creates a smoke cloud that it can use to hide.
---
[Mission Log]
Active Mission: Evolution 01
Collect all the necessary parts and upgrade your forged beasts
Rewards: Unlock the Bond stat.
Status: [Incomplete]
____
[Forge Lab]
Available Materials: [None]
Blueprints:
[Rusty Upgrades]: 5 Energy cores from beasts and Alloys.
[Nyx Upgrades]: 5 Energy cores from beasts and Alloys.
Progress: [0.00%]
Note: The abilities of your evolved beasts will highly depend on the materials used.
]
"That's a lot," Reid thought.
The most important things in the window, to Reid, were the [Forge Lab] tab and the inventory.
Firstly, the Forge Lab gave him blueprints necessary to evolve his beasts, which he couldn't wait to try out.
And the inventory— it allowed him to store his beasts in it. In the world of Forgemasters and Tamers, a similar piece of equipment existed, but it was expensive to acquire, especially for Reid, who was just barely getting by with what he could earn from selling scraps he fixed.
"Um, I know I have most of the information in my head but can you explain the entire status screen in simpler terms?" Reid enquired out loud again. He hadn't fully assimilated the information in his head, the process was being slowly done.
[Very well] she replied [But I should inform you that you don't need to speak out loud to communicate with me, just use your thoughts]
'That's a relief' he didn't want people thinking he was going mad when they saw him talking to himself.
[Let's start with your rank and soul power] she began [those two are mostly the same, your rank shows the highest tier of forged beasts you have tamed and your soul power tells what tier of forged beast you can tame].
[Your soul power will be upgraded with the evolution of your forged beasts]
Reid nodded in understanding, so basically his rank was like player levels of those games of the past.
[The Evolution Codex tab is the one that shows the skills you gain by bonding with me, it is self explanatory and so is the Forged beasts tab].
[The mission log shows the available missions which you can choose wether to ignore or complete for rewards]
'so basically optional/side quests' Reid continued sticking with the video game analogy.
[The forged lab is the fun part] Reid could've sworn he heard excitement from her voice [when activated, you are transferred to a timeless space where you can forge new beasts or evolve your current ones].
[The available materials show you all the materials that can be used to forge or evolve Forged beasts that you have collected] She took a small pause and resumed explaining [and finally, the blueprints tab shows the parts needed to evolve your beasts]
'So I've got stats, inventory, quests and crafting tabs, basically an RPG' Reid thought when she concluded explaining.
"I see, that's pretty useful" he spoke casually but he was inwardly jumping in excitement. This was the chance he was waiting for, a chance to prove his family wrong, a chance to show that he was neither useless or an embarrassment.
He sat back down on his chair and adopted a thinking pose in which he stayed for a few minutes before abruptly standing up.
He turned to his two forged beasts and spoke "alright Evo, let's upgrade my partner's".
[Evo?] she sounded a bit confused.
"Yeah, Evolution Codex is honestly a mouth full so I shortened it to Evo" he explained and asked "You don't like it?".
[It's fine] she sounded a bit satisfied [Let's set out to gather the necessary parts to upgrade your forged beasts].
"Come on Rusty, Nyx hop on" he said but paused "oh right, I have an inventory now".
"So how do I send them there?"he asked.
[Just put your hand on the beast's head and think of sending them in your inventory] Evo explained and Reid obliged.
Following her instruction, he first placed his hand on Rusty's head and in a burst of light it disappeared. Reid could still feel Rusty's presence but this time it was within him.
He did the same for Nyx and set off, taking his bag along. It was time for another scrap hunt but this time, he planned to go deeper.