The Awakened

Chapter 8 - The SEKIE

Phi was a Mutant in his other-Earth, possessing an intricate Mutant System akin to Earth's Awakened System. Within this system, Phi possessed two passive skills: Ethereal Knowledge and Linguist.

Ethereal Knowledge was a remarkable ability allowing Phi to process, dissect, and synthesize information with exceptional clarity. It enabled him to form new ideas, understand complex concepts, and memorize vast amounts of data effortlessly. Additionally, it granted him an innate understanding of how things worked.

Linguist, Phi's second skill, gave him the ability to comprehend and communicate in all languages, as well as read and write any form of writing.

On Earth, the Awakened were known as Defenders, and the World System was referred to as the Watcher System, was still in its alpha stage. When Phi experienced a near-death encounter, he underwent Awakening and was infused with the Defender System. However, a conflict between the existing Mutant System and the Defender System resulted in an anomaly.

This anomaly led to the merging of Phi's Ethereal Knowledge Interface with the core of the Defender System, giving rise to an entity known as the Ethereal Knowledge Interface Entity (EKIE). This entity, classified as a passive support entity rather than a skill, absorbed the Defender System, becoming the Entity System to accommodate Phi's unique situation and was left with the Linguist skill.

Upon being designated as the First Defender by the Watcher System, Phi was granted two unique skills: Divine Eye and Scavenger.

The skills were allotted to Phi and the Mutant System responded the appropriate status intended for the Observer System, Phi's another-Earth equivalent of the World System. However, the Watcher System received an unexpected response that lead to a retry loop and granted Phi another set of unique skills for the First Defender.

The Mutant System, lacking available slots for the skills, forwarded them to the EKIE for analysis and storage. These skills, Divine Alchemy and Usurper, were integrated into the EKIE's Entity System.

Divine Alchemy is an ultimate skill with a list of sub-skills that grants the power to be a master of chemistry and science; Transmutation enables changing matter, energy, elements, objects, beings, and concepts into different forms, either fully or partially, for temporary or permanent durations; Rune Manipulation grants the user to enchant objects or individuals with Rune enchantments, altering their properties through magic sourced from people, objects, or spells. This manipulation grants temporary or permanent enhancements, spanning illusions, shapeshifting, and more.

Usurper is a unique skill that enables users to copy opponent's skills and gain complete control over a target's abilities, thoughts, and actions, effectively usurping their autonomy; recover materials or objects from a defeated adversary; Spatial Storage that allows the user to store things into a sub-space storage in a statis.

As the Watcher System encountered discrepancies in Phi's Awakening, a failsafe system was triggered, marking his Earth Awakening as unsuccessful and designating him as a 'non-Defender.'

The SEKIE, previously an interface between Phi's subconscious and the Akashic Records, evolved into an alter ego and passive support entity. It could materialize when summoned.

As Phi slipped into unconsciousness inside the van, his form began to shimmer and transform. In his place emerged a naked man, who wasted no time in surveying his surroundings. Spotting the spilled liquid, he placed his hand upon it, absorbing its contents into his being.

The naked man moved towards the remaining bottles of mysterious liquid. One by one, he lifted placed his hand over the bottles, absorbing each bottle its contents until they were all empty.