The first hunt

Cursing the stupid system, Sierra floated around in circles. What was she supposed to do now ? Where the hell does one find disintegrating souls ? wait, was it ghosts ?

Beep. The user has 20 mins to identify disintegrating souls and absorb them.

"Ok. Ok. I got it. Don't need constant reminders from a stupid albeit advanced computational software. Hmph."

Sierra blocked out her other thoughts and the million questions she had and tried her best to focus on the problem at hand. She was still not sure how much of this was even real...

But luckily for her, trouble shooting and problem solving was her forte. Thinking about it for a second, she concluded the best course of action.

She quickly identified a nearby hospital and floated across the road, trying her best to dodge all the incoming vehicles and the foot traffic.

After a tedious amount of dancing back and forth, it took 15 mins to reach the hospital gates which was originally only 5 mins away.

Tsk.. Tsk.. Sierra shook her head. Just how much more of a set back or challenge did she need ? Ha ha..

Not losing hope or panicking, she steadily floated inside, trying to get into the intensive care unit.

She had been here once before. Someone had actually bypassed through all their security measures and even taken a shot at her.

They had never gotten to the bottom of that investigation, but now it was as clear as day. Who else could have possibly been responsible for that murder attempt ?! Heh.

All her previously cherished and loved memories now merely assaulted her. They were simply constant reminders of that brutal betrayal.

Breaking her out from this vicious thought cycle, a rush of energy suddenly entered her soul and instantly rejuvenated her.

Pleasantly surprised, Sierra was just about to enquire what had happened, when a notification beeped again.

Beep. 1/5 of a soul has been absorbed successfully. The user has only 3 more minutes left. Helpful suggestion - Stop day dreaming.

Rolling her eyes, Sierra could only be mad at herself for designing something strict and ruthless. It was appropriate in an army setting but here ....

Anyways, focusing on the good news, apparently soul absorption was not really that complicated.

Her soul or probably any soul that survives death of the mortal body and remains intact is hungry and starving, acting like a vortex.

All she has to do is go near another one and the weaker disintegrated soul gets sucked into and absorbed, like water to a sponge.

Well, at least this is the hypothesis she came up with. Who really knows how all this works ?

But now is not the time to be working on this theory..

Sierra hurried and floated around here and there keeping an eye out for any wisps of disintegrated souls.

They were like white smoke on a rainy day loitering and wandering aimlessly. Some of them were even disappearing right in front of her eyes into nothingness.

Focusing on the task, she floated around to absorb as many as she could.

After all very limited people died in a hospital this size. It was not as if she had some endless supply of these souls.

Beep. The user has 60 seconds left to absorb 2/5 of a soul.

"Damn you. Fine I will get to it."

Without much of an effort, Sierra easily absorbed the required numbers of disintegrated souls, with each one giving her a boost of energy.

With 10 seconds left, she was finally done and completely absorbed enough disintegrated souls to make an entire whole soul.

And not long after a notification popped up.

Beep. Congratulations. The user has successfully absorbed enough soul energy to stabilize the user's soul. You will now not be completely dead.

"Hmm ? Oh ya ?! Guess we will see about that. All of this seems too good to be true."

Now that the fire has been temporarily put off, Sierra had enough time to go crazy again. None of this made sense.

"Hey. Why .. why am I still here ? Everybody else seems to be just disintegrating after death, both body and soul ?"

Beep. Information not available.

"What will happen if I keep on absorbing souls ?"

Beep. Information not available.

"Hmm.. I guess you will only have information about what is known. Ha ha ha. Why on earth would any information be available about souls and life after death."

Loudly sighing, Sierra floated around, right alongside the living, but completely invisible.

Passing by aimlessly, she reached the baby ward of the hospital. She then just silently observed the little cuties, smiling and cooing, without any care in the world.

How envious ... If only I could go back ...

And as if the system heard her ..

Beep. Are you satisfied living as a weak pesky ghost ? Absorb 100 complete souls in 1 month. Put your back into it young lady. You can do it.

Startled, Sierra gasped dumbfounded. What the heck ? Where am I going to get a 100 souls and that too in a month ? Wait, why is there a time limit in the first place ???