I will strive beyond this cursed bloodline!

It was the dawn of a new day, he was feeling quite nice these days after the latest change.

Not that he was in bad shape before. His body of 40 years old was quite well maintained after all. A life of continued exercise and a healthy diet had that kind of effect.

Besides his obvious genetic advantage. His heritage, even with all his flaws... Did a good job helping him keep a good health.

Now this new body...Or was it older body?

This one was around the 30-year mark? Perhaps 25 at the earliest?

He wasn't quite sure yet. But it should be around 20-30 so he would call it 25 and be done with it.

He wondered why the girl hadn't questioned his change of appearance more, but he had built that trickster aura for that kind of reason. He wouldn't complain when it worked.

It wouldn't do for the girl to ask too many questions about these kinds of things after all.

So after changing into a new and clean set of clothes and leaving his pajamas to the worker bots...It seems today the spiders won. He left his room in the tree house.

A marvel of engineering even when it was built using the musing of a little girl with too much imagination and way too much power on the manipulation of [Idea].

The meadow was a nice touch though.

He didn't bother to check the pantry or the fridge for food. It was full of either mango cakes, mango slushies, or something mango flavored.

He liked mangos like a normal person, but even he had limits. No.

He would order food to his lab and be done with that.

And so, while searching for a restaurant that did deliveries he walked into the humongous steel doors, put in his code, and registered his retina scan. Placed his hand on the panel, and swept in his card.

After all that the doors open themselves and he could walk into his laboratory.

He always liked to think that this much security was for a reason... An important one, because the things behind these doors were to be protected.

Because the things on this side were too dangerous to leak to the outside... Because mistakes had already been made once.

When in reality...

Alexa was a cheap stake that didn't like to lose a bet and was throwing a tantrum. Probably. That or the big boss still didn't like him. Him or the [Other Big Boss].

Either way, he walked into his lab and couldn't help but to marvel at the transition.

One instant he was in the yard of the meadow that served as a house for him and his sister [Alexandra]. And the next he was in the half of a building that went against all the laws of physics, both normal and meta-physics.

[The Soulscape] The first time he came here it was too different that no words could describe how far they had come.

He had literally built this place up from broken fragments of reality. It was quite nice if he was being modest.

If he wanted to brag about it, then he was sure no one could do a better job than him. Not even one of those [Duo], [Four heavenly kings], [Six emperors] or [Twelve] or whatever they were calling themselves nowadays.

He quite liked how it had ended up, even if he didn't get much input on how the [Skills] of that girl tampered with the design.

Wasn't really a fan about how the [Skills] took form in here, especially that cheeky one [Identify]. That took more space than the main one for some reason. He some days really wondered if the main one only existed to allow this one to be.

But he was only here to make sure this place could stay afloat while the girl placed good foundations in her [Soul] to support these things that got stuck here after her calamitous birth.

And since her soul was strengthening itself nowadays he was happy with that. Especially after she got past the first threshold, granted it gave him quite a surprise to find his body change like that.

But he expected a certain amount of change with each foundation she managed to build...

He just hoped the last one didn't bring him too much trouble.

So while mussing about that he found himself sitting in one of the desks in the deserted lab.

In another time and another life, this laboratory would be full of people working around the clock trying to solve the mysteries of the universe. Now?

Now he had plenty of spider bots and ant bots fighting a world war for supremacy for helpers.

And his sister on the other side of the little realm messing around with books and building castles out of them when she thought no one was seeing her.

It was quite the carefree life if he was being honest, so he didn't mind much the deal if it ended with him in this place.

The only problem?

"Program Alpha, report of status." Said the voice of a blonde man in an overly luxurious bathrobe, he reeked the vibe of a classical villain of a cheap kids' movie.

He was sitting in what could only be described as a presidential suit, living in decadence and he could make up the limbs of a...

Woman?

It should be a woman.

"hmm...Quick question, are those women at least of age this time?" Said the younger man on this side of the screen.

The older one looked back to the woman with the limbs hanging from the bed and just said a low "Tch..." and made a motion with his hand.

Soon enough another woman with a gown that could hardly be described as clothes came into the screen and took away the woman that was unconscious in the bed.

"Thank you, Mary." Said the older man addressing at the scantly dressed woman.

After that, he once again addressed the younger man "And yes Alpha, they were of age. All my employees and partners are of the legal age." And so he made mocking air quotes on the legal age part.

Yeah...He somehow doubted that.

"Not going to go and try to deny your identity this time Alpha?" Asked the older man.

"Not that you would believe me. I like to think I would believe it if I was on the other side of the screen though." Said the younger man.

They both claimed the same thing after all.

"No, you wouldn't. I didn't after all. There is only one Alexanders Saintsworth, and that is me." Said the older man on the screen.

"If you say so [Boss]." Said the younger man.

They had gone over that 10 years ago when they made first contact when the villain attacked the Starbrigiht residence and Elizabeth did that pseudo awakening.

They both claimed the name and didn't get to an agreement on who was right.

"You are the program I created Alpha, the proof is that you are stuck in that...Place." Said the older man.

"You can't even use [Idea] and yet claim the name of a [Saintsworth]? Our ancestors would disinherit you if they saw you." Answered in a mocking tone the younger man.

"That nonsense of power words again?" Answered back the older man.

"Just gibberish being ushered with some low-level hypnotic effect from mana mnemonics imbued into them?" Said back the older man.

"If you can't walk in the real world, interact with the real world and your only way to communicate is a screen...Then how can you claim to be a real person?" And he added salt to the injury.

This was why he didn't try to reach HQ after that event 10 years ago.

"Whatever, what did you call for?" Asked the younger man.

"We will not speak again." Said in a flat tone the older man.

He was planning something.

"...What did you do?" Asked the younger man.

Was he trying to cut the resonance between his base and the [Soulscape]? He shouldn't be able to.

Not without someone helping him with the [Idea] and he would also need a powerful [Soulsurgeon] or a high-tier [Soul Warlock].

And those aren't common...

THE F#CK$NG MEDICI.

He was so going to snitch on them with Brighton.

Those brothers and sisters might be well placed in the community, but what if the father of Elizabeth found out what they were planning?

Yeah, they were going to get punched in the face. And if his estimations were accurate...Hehehe.

That would be fun, wonder if I can convince Elizabeth to snatch a video of that?

"Whatever is going in that small programmed head of yours is useless." Said the older man on the screen.

He was smiling in that annoy...No wait, that was his smile... Damn, it was annoying like Alexa and her mother used to say.

"I just talked to Catherine a few hours ago." Said the older man on the screen.

Huh...

Oh...

OOOHHH...

Yeah, that might have caused some trouble. At least the older man wouldn't suspect him since he still thought he couldn't contact the outside world. Silly man thinking he was the smarter one in the room.

Granted he might be in most of those rooms. But when Alexanders Saintsworth was in the same room as you?

Yeah, good luck. Especially if you are a program thinking yourself human.

Don't know what the old Alexanders was thinking when he made that play.

"Yeah, either she or her daughter triggered one of the safeguards and the system shut down the thought kernel of the Starbright brat." Added the older man.

Ooooh, yeah, that might have pissed Catherine off.

"And since the system brought me that alert I decided to talk to her to explain to her why she was being a dumbass." Finished saying the older man with a nod.

Like that was the smart thing to do.

And he thought himself the original? Doing suicidal things like that?

"The only reason you are alive is because Catherine doesn't want to risk her daughter." Said the younger blonde man.

"Hah, as if her silly magic tricks could hurt a Saintsworth." Said the older man. "Granted she might have scared me when those silly light tricks showed in the bunker..." He added while looking behind himself.

So that's why he was in an orgy mood?

"So...You got scared, drugged god knows how many sluts and went on a drinking binge, and now are complaining to me for some reason?" Asked the younger blonde.

"Pfft...Of course not. I don't complain. I state the obvious, which is...You are the one in trouble, not me." He said while motioning to a screen behind himself.

It read.

What?

"How...?" Started asking the younger man.

For his part, the older man was smirking at him from the screen.

"Yeah, feared for my life...So I downloaded the main server into a tablet, moved the root installer, and gave it to Catherine." Said nonchalantly the older man.

"You...You..."Was saying the younger blonde.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing.

The older man for his part couldn't help but smile like the cat that finally managed to eat the canary.

"Yeah, that's what you get for pretending to be Me." And at that, he cut the connection.

The fool.

He...would need to deal with that.

Best case scenario?

The older man would bug out and diverge even further from the [Original].

He liked to think of himself as the [Original] of course. But unlike that older man, he did think that he could be the programmed one.

So he would prepare.

First, he summoned the generals of his robotic helpers.

Soon enough a big Ant made itself known by clamping his mandibles to bring attention to itself.

Not that it was needed since the thing was almost as big as a house cat. Next to that abomination, a spider fell from the ceiling, it wasn't as big as the ant. But it certainly looked more dangerous.

Unlike the ant though, this one had razor-sharp legs, they weren't designed to grip in the ceiling no...

These looked more designed to stab things, somehow the artificial intelligence designed to manage these things choose to make the spiders more deadly than the ants.

Granted, there were more ants than spiders...

But now he was digressing.

"So...In a few days, I might disappear." He started speaking. "I might not though." And added the clarification.

Both generals of their species didn't make a special motion at that statement. Since they didn't have that much smart, to begin with.

"If I do disappear, this place might become...Unstable." He said while motioning to the place all around them.

"The Ants will make sure those servers don't collapse." He said while pointing at the computers that he had shown to Elizabeth the first time she came here.

The ones administering her [Inventory],[Status], and [Identify].

"If you have to discard one, discard [Inventory]. The other two must survive no matter what." He would like to prioritize only one if possible.

But since he wasn't sure which one was the important one for [The World] he needed to give this kind of instruction.

The ants started looking smug and the spiders angry so he continued.

"The Spiders on the other hand." He said bringing the spider general to attention. "Will have to hold this space together for as long as possible."

And so he finished speaking.

Both with their orders they left.

They didn't ask why would he disappear or if they would disappear with him.

To be honest he wasn't sure if that would happen. This place, these robots...Were built using the [Soulscape] the only foreign things here. The only truly foreign things...Were he and Alexa.

And of the two only he could be the [Program].

He still thought the older Alexanders was the program though.

He just didn't act like an Alexanders should...Also, he didn't share the same memories, he did a check on that, and his decisions were something he wouldn't do.

And besides...He didn't remember Alexa.

How could he be Alexanders if he didn't remember his sister?

---

The next morning found him as usual.

The only difference of course was that he was sleeping on his desk, or under his desk.

He had chosen to sleep inside the laboratory...For practical reasons.

His sister's [Domain] should be outside the scope of Elizabeth's [Soulscape] but one couldn't be too sure about those kinds of things.

So if Catherine did something dumb like destroying that tablet...

He didn't want to put his sister at risk...

He also didn't tell her about that risk, that cheeky brat might do something...Dangerous if she thought something was going to happen to him.

Yeah, he wasn't going to let his sister fight with Catherine if he could help it.

No way that was going to end well, besides...He wasn't sure if his sister could leave for the outside world...

So instead he decided to sleep in his lab for a few days and see what happened. Like right now.

An alarm was going on saying someone was coming into the [Soulscape]. He prepared his defenses and put on his brightest smile to welcome them in.

Would it be Catherine?

Perhaps she would use the [Key] the older blonde had given her to track her way into here?

She was very good at traversing the planes, so if someone could sneak his way into a place that only existed in the metaphysical plane, she was the one.

If it was a helper of hers...

Well...That one wasn't going to leave this place alive, he could think of a few uses for a body, mind, and soul that wandered into his [Domain]. Well, not his but Elizabeth's.

In the end, it wasn't one of those two.

But the visage of a blonde girl with a scowl on her little face.

"It wasn't that special." She stated after planting herself in front of him.

"Of course, it wasn't." Shrugged the blonde man. "Most of the people that manage that are at the apex of power. Why would it be special?" He added.

To this, the blonde girl couldn't say anything back.

"By the way...Did your mother say something to you?" He asked, wondering what had been the explanation for the older Alexanders showing in front of them.

If his math was right, that call should have happened while Catherine was with her.

"Nothing much, she taught me how [Idea] worked, and shoved me into another place where I turned into a [Star] but besides that...Nothing else." Answered the blonde girl.

What?

Did Catherine call after she left the school?

"Well...I think Mama found a tablet at some point..." She said while messing around with her phone and showing him the consumer version of the tablet where the [Key] was saved.

"A variation of this one." She said." But at some point, it disappeared from her purse, so maybe I imagined it...?" Added the blonde girl.

Yeah...

That was the tablet alright...But why the lapse in memory?

"You okay kiddo? Maybe Catherine overstrained your [Mind]." Worried the blonde man.

While her diagnosis hadn't shown degradation, separating her mind from her soul and body couldn't be good for her.

Granted, it made her access her [Idea] easier. But since Elizabeth wasn't shielded by [Fate] like Catherine or one of those [MC]...

"Yeah, it was horrible...My identity almost leaked away... But Mama brought me back in time...There was this weird screen though." She said while summoning several blue screen alerts.

 

"Huh?" Said the blonde girl. "̴̢̧̺̫̞͕͑̉̓̅̾̎̇́͜ ̵̢̼̱̼͈̻̰̱͉̜͙̻͛̆̈͂̅̍̔̈́̽̃̌̚̚͝͝A̸̢̢̢̹͉̭̭̹͎̓̈́̕͘ ̵̨̩̻̥͙̲̗͚̥̉̎̈́̾͋r̷̡͍͙͈̘̬̙̤̭͖͗̈́̏̒̀̂̒́̊̄̚ͅe̷̥̠̙̫̜̭̤͈̠͔͔̙͇̬̓͊̃̀̽̊̂̔̈́̾͗́͝d̷̢̛̙̬̞͉̲̲̪̻͓̣͇̜̜́̈́̌̅̓̓͠͝ ̶̡͇̝̙̝̜̳̠̿͋̈͆́̀̿͗o̵̧̡̺͔̖̮̲̫̓͗̂̇́͑͝n̶̡̨̛͍̺̮̈́͐̂̀̓͆͋̾̐̅̈́͂̕͝ͅë̷̼̝̭̘̱̗̖́̈́̂̈͆̄͒ ̷̧̧͙̯̥̔̒̊̔͒̔̀̿̉̒ì̸̻̟̯͓̲̲̤͙̩̖͖̩͛̔͌̎́͜s̶̢̙̠̱̭̠̟͖͓͉͋͌̑͑͋̎̉͐̄́͘ͅ ̷̬͔͎̪̩̞̥̗͍͇̖̌͆̒͌̓̏́͊́̾͠m̷̺̜͇͓̈̈́̇̍̌̾̌́͌̌į̶̬̭̥̥̬͙̗̞̼͎͎͓́͜ͅs̷̞͛̽̅͒͑̒͑̾̋̈͘͝ś̵̭̗̩̼̱̟̫̲̝̝͙͑̃͝͠͠ͅi̷̢̱͖͓̼̭͓̗̜̳̥͕̳̐̍̉̈̈̍̎͊́͒̓͘͜n̸̻͔̋̃̾͐̎̓̎͋̈́́͘ǧ̸̨̧̧̤̺̥͚͔͔͍̝̈́̀͑̆̃̌͆̽̂́̐͐̕̕"̶̢̛͙̭̮̜̤͕̟͚͖͒͆͛̀̀͐̇͘.̴̛̩͉̊̾̂̇̌̾͐̉̔̎͌̀̋̀ͅ ̷̻̦̲̠͎̳̪̱̮̬͙̣̼͋̈́̂̍͜

 

"Sorry kiddo, you got [Censured] there." Added the blonde man.

For some reason the last part he couldn't quite hear.

"HAH!" Celebrated the blonde girl. "It doesn't feel right now does it!" She was quite happy at that.

Rude.

He wasn't censoring his word because he wanted.

"Yeah yeah, [The Boss] might be cranky since I sneaked that message to your mother so she could explain [Idea] before [The World] taught it to you." Said the blonde man.

He knew [The World] wanted to teach her that. But he didn't trust it that much to do a good job. He still wasn't sure what her [Title] meant after all.

"Anyway, I came to ask something important." Said the blonde girl.

So he prepared himself, would she ask him about the reason for the distribution of skills or status points?

Would she ask him why her status looked different?

Why the shadow skills worked better than the ones that allowed her to peek at other's status?

Would she ask why she couldn't use [Identify] on him or Alexa?

"Can I dress using [Inventory]? Also who decided the name of my pet?" Said the blonde girl.

"*sigh*" He couldn't help but deflate a little.

Kids...

"Of course, you can use [Inventory] to dress. But you will need to [Customize] it yourself since it isn't a basic function." Said the blonde man while pointing at the workstation for that skill.

"You need to think it before you do it, same as [Shadow Minion] you get one slot every 10 levels for extra options." He said while somewhat deflated.

"Also, the name is assigned by you. If you don't assign one after 10 mins it will be randomized. Only someone with Higher [Autorithy] could overshadow you on the choice." He finished saying.

Then he peeked at her status.

And the same screen as usual.

Pesky red screens.

He would hope that the girl forgets to close her session again and then he would peek at that...Again.

"Hmm....Food preservation...Or change in clothes..." Was mumbling the girl while hovering at the options on her screen.

"The wardrobe skill path has laundry as the second option." He said while pointing at that portion. "Or you could follow in your mother's steps and use a [Shift Spell]" Added at the end.

"Oh right, why do I have two of those?" She said while pointing at her status screen on the other monitor.

VICTORY!

"Oh, easy. The [Skill] version doesn't dissipate unless you ran out of stamina. While the [Spell] version doesn't dissipate unless you run out of mana." Answered the blonde man.

"But they do the same things...?" Said the blonde girl.

"Don't ask me, it's your [Soulscape] the one that infringed on copyrights and cannibalized your [Spell]. On the bright side, you will be able to use the [Skill] even under a [Mana Damper]." Shrugged the blonde man.

"So...Anything else I should know?" Asked the blonde girl after deciding to procrastinate her decision.

"Hmm...Yeah...I might disappear for sometimes depending on some decision an idiot made in HQ." He said while pointing at the robotic helpers.

"If that happens, those will deal with my work here., the other half...should be fine. If anything happens go and pester your mother." Finished saying the blonde man.

"Sure...I will do that garbled thing you just said to me." And on that note, the blonde girl winked out of the soulscape.

"Goddammed censorship..." Was all the blonde man could say.