Survival Begins

Silver hair was falling on the ground, strands of various lengths were piling up on the terrain while Aren was sitting on a stool. In front of him there was a big mirror that he found in the cabin, luckily the earthquake didn't break it but it was too dark inside to be able to see much.

The pair of scissors that he found were clean and sharp enough to cut his own hair, he couldn't stand them to be that long, especially with his current body, he would have looked ever more frail. The cut was decent, not too short but good enough, and the fact that he did not have to shave was actually one less thing he had to worry about.

"How do I look?"

[With your eyes, Your Majesty], Aren wasn't sure if that was a joke or if the system was very dense.

"I mean, what do I look like? Does it look good?"

[AFFIRMATIVE, Your Majesty]

"We have to do something on the way you speak. But first, let's see what we found", after being sure that no hair strands were left on his body, Aren started to add some layers of clothes on top of his outfit which was definitely not enough.

"Definitely better, and warmer", he found in the cabin some clothes, they were pretty large for his size but it didn't matter for him. It was a large shirt and a jacket, which looked very baggy to him but he managed to roll up his sleeves. He also found a belt and after adding a couple of holes to fit his size, then attached his knife on his side. 

The next item was an axe, it had a pretty long wooden handle and the blade seemed pretty sharp, meaning that someone was maintaining it regularly. He felt that it was time to build some mobility and build more of his newfound body.

The plan was to spend some days in the cabin, until he figured out the next steps. There was a small garden with vegetables in the back, and also a well with a bucket and a rope to pull. He instantly checked if there was water and luckily the earthquake didn't affect that.

He didn't know if the owner would have been anytime soon but he decided that it was safer anyway dealing with him later than trying to survive in his current condition.

⁂

Five days passed and his body regained full basic movement and a bit of strength. On a regular condition he would have taken at least a couple of months after being bedridden, but apparently the pod managed to keep his nerves and muscles in a very decent shape. Also the blood of House Valoria was adding that extra touch of miraculous strength and adaptability.

He was swinging the axe right after he finished his daily exercises. He wanted to be able to use it as a weapon, since he didn't want to rely only on his dagger.

"Ok, so you're telling me that you have some settings to customize you?"

[AFFIRMATIVE Your Majesty], the light from the bracelet was glowing softly following the sound waves of the voice.

"Ok first thing, your voice and way of speaking. Is there a way to make it less, how to say that? Less artificial?"

[AFFIRMATIVE - the system comes with a different set of voices and tones]

[OPTION ONE - Greetings my liege] the voice sounds like a very elegant and sophisticated butler.

"Next please."

[OPTION TWO - Hello little brother] it sounded more like a reassuring young adult.

"Oh, I always wanted a brother but not like this. What about a female voice?"

[OPTION ELEVEN - Hello darling] this sounded like a very warm grandmother.

"Maybe younger?"

[OPTION SIXTEEN - Hellloooowwww!!!]

"No! Definitely not this one, something more normal but reassuring please", Aren almost lost his posture while swinging the axe.

[OPTION THIRTY - Hello Your Majesty?] at that sound Aren stopped his movements and dropped the axe on the ground.

"Val? How did you get this voice?" He asked out loud without even thinking,

Sounds exactly like her, the old Val.

[Your Majesty, this is one of the predefined voices and tones in the system? Is this what you want?] he thought about it and he really needed a familiar voice, but he felt that it would have been really an extra burden on him to be reminded constantly of his friend so blatantly.

"I don't dislike it. But can you modify it? Maybe I'll make it younger maybe?"

[Like this Your Majesty?] 

The voice was still Val's but it was younger, still formal as if she would have really sounded like this in her twenties.

"Yes, this is perfect. Thank you, Val."

[Val? That's how you want to call me Your Majesty?] that slipped from his mouth, and he felt really stupid about it.

"Ok, sure. I will call you Val. A name is a name, and she is she, and you are you."

[I don't follow Your Majesty]

"It means it's fine. I will explain to a friend of mine this situation, once we will meet again"

[Any other request for the system?]

"Uuuh, yes! Can you change your sense of humour?"

[That part of the data is lost, Your Majesty. But I will start to build a humour database.]

"No way, Val can take initiative!"

[My system allows me to take decisions if they are for the best and do not have any impact on the host] 

"Yeah, build a sarcasm database as well please..."

⁂

After a few days, Aren was able to run and properly hold the axe and use the dagger. He also went to hunt some wild animals when he wanted to eat some meat. Val explained that the dagger and the SENTINEL were both made of a metal called Ragnasid. He never heard of it but after trying it, he realised that it was really strong and nearly impossible to scratch.

In the cabin he managed to find some books and some letters, unfortunately they were all in a foreign language but Val started to scan all the characters, trying to see if she could create a translator. 

The days were passing quite fast due to Aren's speedy progress, and so it came the day where Aren decided to explore further, to decide on which direction to go.

He scouted the area and followed any possible path, and after many calculations he and Val found the most probable route that you could take as a lumberjack living in that cabin, a path that would allow him to carry things and reach a road.

In the past days it did not rain, which means that any possible track on the ground would have still been visible. 

"Today we are going further north. Show me the map."

In front of his eyes a project of a map appeared, it was not complete but the areas that they uncovered were all visible. Aren took the chance these days to learn more about Val and the SENTINEL. The device has an internal battery that takes and stores energy from the user, meaning that as long as whoever wears it is alive then the device will keep working.

Val confirmed that to stay on it borrows such a small amount of energy that doesn't impact at all the user, unless there are some specific usages that require depleting even more than what is stored already.

For Aren that was a very incredible technology, he wondered if the battery itself could have been used as a blueprint to create clean energy for bigger usages, but he didn't have the tools to open the SENTINEL and neither he wanted to risk damaging it. 

The path was quite easy to follow, and luckily he carried a small bag with water and food in case he needed to take a break.

This would have been easier if he had at least the Bright Dragon's help. He could have easily found a path by jumping really high, or cover great distances by running through the forest.

He missed his emblem but somehow it wasn't there anymore, but he wanted to believe that it was still there, a Prime Emblem cannot be stolen, it can be passed down voluntarily, or it would simply disappear with the death of the host. That's at least what he learned by studying the history of the emblems in his previous life.

"Val, can't you really see if I still have an emblem in me?"

[I am sorry Your Majesty, but this functionality is not present in the system. I can only check your general health and biometric values], that wasn't the first time that he asked her, but a part of him was hoping for a different answer every time.

[Sorry Your Majesty, you kept mentioning the Bright Dragon which is supposed to be a Prime emblem, but what is your Original emblem?] This question took Aren by surprise.

My Original emblem, I honestly didn't think about it. How could I forget it.

An Original emblem is how you call the emblem that is given to an Awakened. Is the main emblem that comes with them from the beginning till the end.

Which is different to a Prime emblem which is inherited and passed down from one wielder to another.

A person that already has an Original emblem can also carry a Prime emblem, and that's what the House of Valoria was doing from the beginning. 

But as many other rulers, he started to mix the usages and forget that he basically has two.

"My Original emblem is called Bright Shield, is probably one of the emblems that descended from Bright Dragon itself, like most of my family's emblems, all with a similar light related element. That is probably why the Bright Dragon chose us among all the others", he started to recall his early days as a youngling, during his training, where he was learning how to use his powers.

"Its ability was to generate strong shields of energy, defending me from many types of attacks. I started first to learn how to change the shield shape, in order to combine it with the Bright Dragon which was providing me with some serious offence."

[So Your Majesty, have you considered that you still have an emblem, your Original emblem and that maybe you are still Dormant?], this consideration was even more logical now that he thought about it.

Aren was surprised at how Val's logic was really good in connecting the dots, but even more surprised that he did not think about this possibility.

"You mean that my rank regressed so much that I cannot use any emblem? Can this happen? I never heard of someone regressing before."

[Not having anything documented before doesn't always mean that it cannot happen. On the same logic, Your Majesty never experienced having your body rejuvenated before, but it is all a supposition], but Aren knew that it was true, his current body was a proof of how things can be unpredictable. He was so focused on his previous life that he forgot that his emblem could have been affected by his current one.

"It is worth considering. Thank you Val! This is a nice way to see this situation" Aren felt like there was some hope in this emblem situation.If he had the chance to awaken even just Bright Shield, it would be a great advantage for his survival.

[How does one become Awakened? Is there a specific process?]

"Good question. Well, in my experience it is all about training constantly and having good guidance. I had my parents and amazing teachers tutoring me every day. I was already blessed with the Valoria's blood, so I guess I didn't have to think about time"

[And how do other people awaken their emblem usually?]

"Well, it depends. Studies showed that an alternative to training is related to strong emotions, like very happy moments or something very heavy. Like the brain and the body would stimulate the dormant emblem to wake up as a reaction to the event", it was true, he was lucky and he often heard about people getting the worst trauma, ending up carrying cursed emblems or abilities related to it. The king decided that it was useless to keep thinking about his old life and that he had to focus on finding a current solution for his weakness, with or without any emblem.

Val and Aren spent the rest of the walk trying also to scan some plants to see if something would have been a good medicine or a poison,

Suddenly the road started to show some cracks from the earthquake, a lot of trees were down and suddenly they came across a terrifying encounter. 

It was a black bear, from the back the body looked massive but it was too busy to notice Aren behind. The creature was sniffing around, probably looking for some food. Aren held his breath and started to retrocede slowly, but in that moment he stepped on some dry leaves and he knew that it was already too late. The bear turned his head and stared at him, his eyes glowing red and they were full of anger.

Shit, that's an awakened bear! From all the things that I could have imagined, this is one of the worst.