Energy Eater - Chapter 27 - The Second Human User (Patreon)

Convincing Pops to get the System was much easier than I expected. Honestly, I imagined he would argue he didn’t want to be possibly controlled by something that came from the Eaters. Or that there were too many unknown variables. Or just that he didn’t want to change who he was that way. 

In the end, the moment I put out my hand to give him the System, Pops took it. No hesitation, no questions asked, just yes. Part of me should’ve expected that. He would never let me be the only one taking a risk. Or maybe it was because part of the System came from the necklace grandma Camilla gave him. As if this was a way for him to be closer to her. He could even have been thinking about how to help others by using the System. But to be honest, there was a more likely reason for his quick action. I had just offered him super powers. I told a self proclaimed nerd that I could have a radioactive spider bite him. Of course, he was going to say yes. It was stupid to ever think he would refuse. 

The moment he grabbed my hand, it felt a lot like I was using a skill. Something came out of me and moved through my arm, going to his. But instead of those particles having left an empty space where they were before, I still felt whole. 

“Cass… What is… Are you seeing this?” Pops asked, pointing at a random spot on the wall, but his eyes focused on something else. So that’s how I looked when I read what the System told me.

“I’m not, only you can see that. If you have any questions, ask the System. It will be able to answer most things. I’m also here if you have any doubts, but it’s better to ask the expert about things,” I told Rakeen, whose face was a mixture of confusion and wonder. Almost like a kid learning about dinosaurs for the first time.

“And how do I do that?” Pops asked, but his eyes trailed to a random spot again. I was pretty sure his System was explaining things for him. I paused to give him some time and spoke.

“I think you already heard an explanation, but you can ask out loud. Or think about the question in a way that you want to be answered. It sounds a bit odd, but it’s easier than you would expect.”

Pops nodded and stared into the distance again. Ok, we needed to be careful with that. If we were constantly looking away, people might think we were crazy. 

‘Sys, is there anything else I need to know about what I just did?’

[All information about giving System to someone else has already been disclosed. Does user have any other questions?]

‘No… I don’t think so. I just thought that maybe there was some information that only became available now that we actually gave you, well, a version of you, to someone else.’

[That is an understandable expectation. However, in this situation no new information became available.]

‘That’s ok,’ I shrugged.

“Are you kidding me?” Pops gasped.

“What happened?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it”

“Is it nothing or I shouldn’t worry about it? What happened?”

“It’s just a dumb skill.”

“What skill?” 

“Cass, don’t worry about it.”

“Pops, we are dealing with something we don’t understand completely. We need all the information we can get. What skill is it?”

Rakeen grumbled, “It’s called,” he stopped, “Oh. Gimme your hand.”

I frowned and reached out, the moment our hands touched I saw a window appear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Alcohol Resistance - Passive - Unranked
Your intense effort was rewarded, the woes brought by alcohol will struggle to affect you.
Increased resistance to the effects of alcohol.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Reading that made me chuckle, “I mean it’s good data for us.” 

“Yeah, yeah. Just because I’m drunk,” Pops huffed.

“A little bit. But hang on. Let me check one thing. Keep talking to the System, see what else you need to know,” I stepped back and looked into the distance of the basement before speaking in my own mind.

‘Sys, can I share skills? I remember you commenting that the only way for the Eater to have {Body Regeneration} was for someone else to have given it the skill.’

[Correct. User can share skills. Doing so follows a rule similar to what it is to put a skill in {Memory Bank}. However, that effect will only dictate how often user can share skills. In addition, some skills are unable to be shared. Those are skills directly related to user’s class. Such as any skill that is a part of {Formless Series}.] 

‘So like. Aspirant and Unranked take 1 hour, and the ones higher than that take longer depending on the equivalent tier?’

[Correct.]

‘Is that only related to me, or if I give a skill to Pops, he will also have to wait?’

[Both the giver and the receiver of the skill will have to wait for the allotted time before giving or receiving another skill. In addition, the giver’s only restriction is to not be able to give more skills. For the receiver, they are unable to utilize the skill until the assimilation period has ended.]

‘And the assimilation period is the cooldown, right? Or is it something else?’

[The assimilation period is the same as the cooldown for the skill giver. Meaning that if a skill takes 1 hour to be given, it will take another hour to be assimilated.]

‘One more thing. And I know this is a long shot. If I give him {Memory Bank} would all the skills that are there go with it?’

[No, only skill {Memory Bank} would be shared.]

I nodded, that was to be expected, ‘Actually, there is another thing. Can I give him a skill that is inside {Memory Bank}? Or do I have to pull the skill out first?’

[User is able to give skills inside {Memory Bank}.]

‘Perfect,’ I smiled and turned to my grandpa, “Pops, how many Memory slots do you have?”

Rakeen paused for a moment, “Three, why?”

“I’m going to give you two skills. One is called Quick Tier 1 Evolution and makes it much easier to level up until level 10, and to Tier up. Ask the System about what that means. The next is called {Body Regeneration} and it’s the skill that saved me after I was impaled.”

“I can’t take those skills from you!” Pops gasped.

“You are not taking them from me, I’m sharing them with you… Right, Sys?” I asked, a bit unsure if my statement was true. 

[Correct. User will not lose the skills, only share their data.]

“Yeah. It’s fine. But we need to split that a bit. First Quick Tier 1 Evolution that one is more important for now. In two hours, I’ll give you the other.”

“Why not give them both?” 

“Because there is a cooldown between giving skills. I’m sure there is a reason for that, but I didn’t ask.”

[Would user like to know the reason?]

“Sure,” I shrugged.

[Calling it cooldown is incorrect. The time in question is the time it takes System to transmit the information to another user’s System. User can consider it as something similar to copying a file on a computer.]

“Copying a file on a computer?” It took me a moment to understand what that meant. I never actually used a proper computer before, but I did watch some shows where people mentioned things like that. I remember something about a green bar slowly being filled. 

Pops nodded, understanding what was going on much better than me, “I see, that makes a lot of sense. Skills are almost like programs. So sharing them would be, essentially, installing the skill from a rom. But wouldn’t that require us to be close to each other? Or is the System able to communicate through long distances?”

[May System answer Pops question?]

“Please.”

[System is able to communicate through short distances. As long as user and Pops are within 10 meters of each other, the skill transfer will continue. If the distance goes beyond that threshold, the transfer will be canceled. In addition, the skill will become unavailable for the same duration as the transfer itself as System checks the skill for any signs of damage or corruption that happened due to the forced cancellation of the transfer.]

“Did your System explain what was going on too, Pops?” I turned to my grandpa.

“It did. Basically, we need to be close to each other while the transfer happens,” Rakeen nodded.

“Whatever will we do,” I chuckled and put a hand on his shoulder. 

‘Sys, start the transfer of Quick Tier 1 Evolution.’ 

[Acknowledged.]

I saw Pops stop and read a notification that I knew was there. He then moved his finger and pressed something in the air.

[Transfer of skill Quick Tier 1 Evolution has begun. Please stay within 10 meters of Pops. Transfer duration: 59:52]

That timer started to tick down as I asked the System to put it in the corner of my view. Just in case.

“Also, System, make sure to tell me if we are getting too close to 10 meters away. Can you do that?” I said it out loud so Pops could understand the other kind of things the System could do.

[Acknowledged.]

“Yeah, do that too, System,” Rakeen nodded.

We spent another 30 minutes in the basement, talking about the various things related to the System and what it was like to have an extra voice in our heads. But in the end, we had to go to Cindy. The kids were waiting and I couldn’t break my promise. Dinner was nice, or at least the food was, mostly. Being close to Michael and Vanessa was amazing, but the mood wasn’t that great. Peter was like a husk, just walking around and not saying anything. Which was understandable, to say the least. He lost his boy to the Eaters, and from the little I gathered, he watched PJ get devoured. 

The kids were better than I expected. Even if they had lost their parents. There was a part of me that wasn’t entirely sure they understood what happened. That they would never see mom and dad ever again. But for now, it didn’t sound like a good idea to mention it. During most of the meal, Pops was just staring at the table. Everyone else seemed to think he was still shellshocked, but I could tell he was just talking to his System. 

‘I wish there was a way to talk to him without anyone hearing,’ I said as the kids talked about all the things they saw in the Madison Village. I knew it wasn’t right not to pay attention to them, but my mind was somewhere else.

[If user makes physical contact, System is able to send messages to Pops on user’s behalf, and give back his response. The process will be similar to what was known as texting in the old world.]

‘Oh? Ok then,’ I reached my feet across the table and touched Pop’s.’

Cassandra: Pops? Don’t freak out. System said we can talk like this as long as we are touching.

Rakeen’s eyes narrowed. He glanced towards me but then turned back to his plate that had an overly salted meat pie.

Pops: We can talk like this? This reminds me of the old days.

Cassandra: Was it like this?

Pops: We didn’t have to touch, but yeah. God, I miss my phone sometimes.

Cassandra: I just don’t know why we need to touch if we can transfer skills from a distance.

SYSTEM: When System is communicating with users some process are utilized that allow signals from the various SP present in users body to be translated into something users are able to understand. Said process is delicate, and ambient interference is enough to disrupt the information being transmitted. 

Pops: I see, but how well can we communicate. What about this? (ノ ゜Д゜)ノ ︵ ┻━┻

Pops: It worked! I can use emojis on this, I’m so happy. (づ｡◕‿‿◕｡)づ

Cassandra: I… kind of regret doing this.

I looked up and saw Pops eyes tearing up. This was very similar to something from the old world, at least according to him. A piece of history he never thought he would see again. Maybe this kind of thing was ok, even if it was strange.

We finished dinner and went to bed in Cindy’s house, the kids still refused to let me go. Once I had a chance, I also gave pops {Body Regeneration}. I offered him {Compression}, but he wanted to know the kind of skill he would get. If nothing good showed up, he would ask for the skill. It was a nice night, and the first time in ages since I slept in a bed, after taking a shower. Pops was alive, so were two of my kids, and I was warm and safe. There was nothing else a girl could ask for.