His mother’s voice was calling out to him. She kept saying goodbye over and over again. Synexus felt lost in a sea of darkness. Nothingness had overtaken him, but somehow, he was aware of this fact. His mother’s voice started becoming muffled and merged with another voice. Not just any voice, but the voice he had heard when he had lost consciousness. He had lost consciousness. That was something he had forgotten while floating in the dark. This voice started getting louder and so he followed it. Eventually, he started to see blips of light. No, his eye lids were starting to open. His mind started shaking the cobwebs away, and he shot up.

  His breathing was heavy, and the confusion melted away. He was in his room on the Windswept. The sun was shining through the window and hitting the wall by his head. He looked around and noticed two people in the room with him. Well, one person and an owl.

  It wasn’t an ordinary owl. This owl stood almost five feet tall, its features were blacker than he thought possible, and blue circuits ran up its body over its feathers and seemed to all converge on its eyes. The eyes looked like deep space. They were voids with little specs of light like stars shining. It was beautiful. All its feathers ended with bright green luminescent tips which were mesmerizing. The tips made the owl look like it was shimmering.

  The eyes focused on Synexus and it spoke, “wow, we were worried there for a minute. You’ve been out for four hours, and you won’t be at a hundred percent for a few days at least. Take it easy.”

  “What happened? I was trying to grow your seed and then there was pain.”

  “I apologize about that. This is why I had originally asked to be implanted into an already existing animal body. Yes, it would have integrated the consciousness of the animal with me, but we would have avoided you nearly dying. The seed required more energy than someone at your level could produce. It dug into the rest of your resources to make up the difference. If you couldn’t use the sunlight for energy, you might have died.”

  “Well, I didn’t, and it seems like you have a body of your own now. I’m speaking to an owl.”

  The owl let out a bellowed laugh. “Yes, this body is adequate, thank you. It was more than I asked for. Your companions were a little freaked out by my appearance.”

  Kumo left the side of the owl and gave Synexus some water. “Drink this. I can’t believe you were so reckless. I know we need to take risks for progress, but that was a close call. The way you screamed in pain will give me nightmares. Don’t do it again!”

  “Sorry, Kumo. I had no idea. I’ll be fine though.” He reached in his bag and brought out a yuop fruit and took a bite. “This will give me some of my resources back.”

  “I don’t think a fruit will fix you”, Kumo said with a little bit of anger in her voice.

  “She’s right. Even filling your resource bars won’t help you get back to full strength. This damage went deeper than that, but nothing permanent. It will just take a few days, and you’ll be perfectly fine again.”

  “Alright, I’ll take it easy then. Hopefully nothing attacks us before I get back on my feet. By the way, what should I call you?”

  “What do you mean?” the owl responded instantly.

  “Well, we can’t go around calling you owl or the Living System. Do you have a name?”

  “I’ve never had a proper name before, and no one has ever asked me. What do you think?”

  Kumo cut in, “I’ve just been calling it owl because frankly, I thought it hurt you on purpose.”

  “What?! Kumo, it wouldn’t do that. We had an agreement.” He took another sip of water. “Owl is a really bad name. How about Liv?”

  “What was I supposed to think? The seed caused you harm and then it grew from it. We were all worried. “She paused before continuing, “I’m thinking that’s short for Living System? That’s not bad, but what about Gene. I had a friend named Eugene back in Whisper, and that’s what we called him. That’s kind of your thing.”

  “Well, it’s up to the Living System, but I like it. What do you think?”

  The owl looked lost in thought for a moment. “I think I like that name. I’ve never chosen a name for myself before, but it makes sense and it’s short. Living System is quite the mouthful. Gene is short and sweet. Thank you, Kumo.”

  Kumo’s stress seemed to melt away, and she turned to Gene. “You’re welcome. I’m sorry we yelled at you earlier. It was a scary moment. I hope you understand.”

  “No worries. It was a logical conclusion that I was the one that harmed Synexus here. You are a loyal friend, and it’s obviously you care deeply which I respect.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Kumo smiled and then started making her way to the door. “Well, we should probably go tell everyone that he is okay. Synexus, you come up when you’re ready, but I’ll come check on you periodically if you need anything.”

  “Thanks, Kumo! Please tell everyone that I’m sorry for the scare.”

  With that she left, and Gene went to follow before turning around to say, “don’t forget to check your notifications.”

  Once the door was shut, Synexus followed his new friend’s advice and checked his system messages.

  Living System: 3%

  Knowledge of the Living System Achievement Unlocked

  Knowledge of the Living System: You have formed a connection with the Living System by pouring some of yourself into the creation of its vessel. Due to this connection, you have gained some of its knowledge. See this knowledge with upgraded sight. You will now be able to see information such as name, class, and level by looking at a creature or object.

  Wow, this was huge. He no longer had to touch things with his sensor to give surface information. He would need to test it out, but being able to identify plants and creatures faster would be a huge boon. It was unexpected, but certainly welcome. Now he was even more excited to get back to his feet.

  ***

  It took another two hours of rest until he felt ready to walk around. After walking up to the deck, he saw the other class chosen sitting around a table with Gene standing nearby. One of the crewmates must be at the helm. He hobbled over to the table and took a seat. They were all staring at him like he was a ghost.

  “Come on, I didn’t die.”

  “It looked like it.” Zuls said.

  “It sounded like it.” Prith added on.

  “Leave him alone. He’s obviously still feeling it.” Vorin came to his rescue.

  When he stared at Vorin to thank him, a system message came up.

  Name: Vorin

  Race: Human

  Class: Plague Doctor lvl 23

  They noticed him staring oddly, and Kumo spoke up, “are you about to die again?”

  This got a laugh from everyone, even Gene. “No, I’m fine. I just got a notification is all.”

  By this time, it was getting late in the afternoon. The day was still beautiful, and Synexus looked out at the water. There was nothing else in sight. It was breathtaking and he was sad that he didn’t get to see Gale grow small in the distance, but he would make sure to watch it grow closer on his way back. It was Zuls that made him zone back into the conversation.

  “So, Synexus, are you going to be growing anymore talking owls? Gene here was telling us how unique it is, but they are a talking owl, so I’m not sure how concrete their word is.”

  “Nope, as far as I know, they will be stay unique. I was surprised Gene could talk too. How does that work?”

  Gene shrugged. “Too be honest, I’m not sure. This is my first time being an owl. I’ve always known the common language. In fact, I know every language. I’ve just never had a mouth to use them before. This will be a learning experience for me too, but remember I am only here to observe.”

  “I remember. Don’t worry. We will never expect you to fight. Your advice will be most welcome, however. I have a feeling you hold more knowledge than all of us combined.”

  This got the attention of everyone else. “Do you have any information on sword styles?” Prith said without skipping a beat.

  “I do hold vast knowledge, and I will be happy to give advice, but I will not give you any information you couldn’t come by on your own. Knowledge can be dangerous.” Gene looked around at everyone expecting a nod of understanding. “But yes, I have many different fighting styles for the sword memorized. If you need any input, please ask.”

  Vorin was nodding along, but now he felt it was the right time to speak. “Wisdom is just as important as combat prowess. I think I’m going to enjoy having conversations with you while on this voyage, Gene.”

  “Great, Synexus almost dies bringing Gene into the world and now Vorin is trying to scare the owl off.” Zuls joked after emptying the glass in front of her.

  They all laughed again. “So, did I miss anything while I was out?

  Kumo shook her head. “It’s been boring in the monster killing department. We had some evil looking seagulls fly overhead, but they didn’t try anything.”

  “This is how it normally is until we get a day or two out into open water.” Vorin said reassuringly. “I’m not hoping for an attack though. I know it’s important for us to progress in our classes, but we do have a crew of ten people who are on the verge of becoming class chosen. Not to mention the eight passengers. We need to always keep them in mind.”

  They all nodded. That was in fact the most important part of this. Kumo and synexus knew they had to protect those that haven’t gotten their class yet. If it was a safe trip and they didn’t encounter a single monster, then it would be a success but sadly monsters always showed up at some point.

  The next few hours were filled with conversation as they were all still getting to know each other. Zuls and Prith loved to joke around while Vorin was more serious. Gene seemed to enjoy the banter and started making some of its own. They wanted to experience life for themselves, and this was life at its core. Good conversation on a boat in the middle of some vast ocean.

  Kumo had killed a few of the seagull monsters that ended up coming a little too close. She needed to for her bracers anyways, and no one had a problem with letting her take care of them. They then decided to set up a watch schedule to make sure someone was up at all times watching for monsters. Normally, there would be two people up at all times, but there weren’t enough class chosen for that. Instead, the class chosen on watch was responsible for defense, while the class expected crewmate awake at the time would run and notify the other class chosen. This would keep the passengers and crew out of harm’s way.

  This was the first day of nearly two months at sea. The voyage had already been eventful with the creation of Gene. Synexus could already tell he would learn a lot from the owl and even more from the achievement the creation had granted him. The next two months were about adventure and making progress. He still had one more level to go in Body Transmutation. Getting level 10 in his class was his next goal.