System Architect - Ch 116

When I spoke with Jack a couple weeks later, I was feeling better than I had in years. Yet, there was still something bothering me.

“So, how are you enjoying the woodworking class?” he asked.

“It’s great!” I said. “It’s fun to actually create something instead of always destroying things. I’ve made a toy car and a spoon so far. And now I’m working on a bowl!”

“That’s wonderful. And your training?”

“It’s going well enough,” I said, tilting my head. “I’m doing a lot of the same thing, but I can feel that it’s helping—somewhat. Honestly, it’s a bit hard to tell since improvements are slow and steady. It doesn’t feel like I’ve improved much day-to-day, but when I look back at how I was when I started, it’s better.”

“That’s just how it is sometimes,” Jack shrugged. “At least you can see it. That’s the important part.”

“Right,” I said.

My face shifted to a serious look.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’m not sure, exactly. I feel like—as good as everything is going—I’m just replacing one labor with another.”

“Do you mean that you find it hard to relax?”

“Yeah. I feel better because I’m busy more than I do because I’m doing something I love, if that makes sense.”

“It does. Maybe it would help to do something slower. When was the last time you went on a picnic or to a museum?”

“Longer than I can remember.”

“It’s not like you need to work, so why not take a day or two every week to do something like that? Being outside in nature can be healing for the mind—as can experiencing something new.”

“I can try,” I said. “The other things you suggested seem to be helping so far.”

“Great!”

--------

After finishing my session with Jack, I considered what to do. I didn’t particularly feel like going anywhere with Mom or with Dad. There was too much history there—both good and bad. That I felt little connection with my parental units didn’t help things. That left few options. Grandpa Milton and Grandma Rose were options. Grandma Rose was someone I wanted to stay away from, given her reaction towards magic. That meant hanging out with Grandpa Milton—something I hadn’t done in decades—was basically off the table.

The only real option was Grandpa Joe. I emailed him, asking to hang out with him on one of my free days. As I had come to expect, he made time for me on the one weekday I didn’t have any obligations. He picked me up from Mom’s apartment in the morning.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“Well, hop in and we’ll get this show in the road!”

I smiled as I got into his car. Mom’s booster seat had been switched over so that I would be safe. He pulled away as soon as I was buckled.

“So, I hear you’re making spoons out of wood? Your mother showed me the one you made. It was solid!”

“Thanks. It’s been fun to make things,” I said.

“That’s good. So you wanted to go for a walk with me and have a picnic?”

“Yeah. Jack—the therapist Mom took me to—suggested it might help.”

“Well, you can always call me up anytime,” Grandpa Joe said.

I smiled.

We didn’t talk for a while. I watched the scenery zoom past the car. Thoughts raced through my head as I weighed telling him about my plans to cause the apocalypse to hit sooner so he would be able to live. I decided to do so because of his trust in me. I wanted to believe that I could trust him to understand why it mattered so much to me.

“Grandpa Joe,” I began.

“Hmm?”

“I’m going to trigger the apocalypse to start in a few years—around when I turn ten or eleven.”

“Why would you do that?” he asked.

“So you can live,” I answered.

Tears began to blur my vision as I continued.

“If I do nothing, you’ll be dead in five years. I’m not sure Healing you with magic will make any difference. So to be sure, I’ll need to trigger it early. The way it’s set up now, everyone on Earth will be healed as soon as they turn sixteen. That includes everyone older than that—and you, of course.”

“I feel honored that you care for me so much,” he said. “But won’t that mess up your plans somehow?”

“No. I have more than enough to finish what I’ve started. The System will be ready to go before it gets that far. I really just want you there by my side for a long time. Back—”

My voice cracked as the tears fell.

“—back when I was new to all of this, you were the one who helped me the most. It was your guidance that pushed me to be better and try new things until I stumbled on the answer. Oh, you hated that—especially when it meant turning the planet into a wasteland—but it’s what will let humanity live on. So, this is my way of thanking you. That it also means you’ll be around for many years is—of course—a bonus.”

“You’ll have to tell me more about that world-ending thing you did. Can that happen again?”

“I put in a bunch of things that should make that kind of thing vanishingly unlikely. At least from humans. I can’t say the same for the aliens, though I think they ban plagues like that.”

“Good. And what was that about living a long time?”

“Well,” I said. “Have you noticed that I have grown a little slower?”

“No, I can’t say that I have.”

“As you level up and increase the power of your body, you live longer. You will level plenty fighting monsters like everyone else on the planet. That means you’ll probably live another fifty years or more!”

“That’s… something. I’m not sure what I think about that. The world’s gonna change a lot, isn’t it.”

“Yeah. I could use your advice about that. Same for some of the finishing touches. No huge rush—obviously. Just something I’d like an extra head to think about.”

“I can do that,” he said. “How’s the plan with the cultural changes coming?”

“Going well so far—I think.”

“You think?”

“Yeah. The money’s being spent at a good clip, and I’m seeing good results. The problem is that it’s not quite breaking into the mainstream yet. I’m hopeful it will in the next two or three years.”

“That sounds about right. Those sorts of things bubble below the surface for a while before exploding onto the scene. You’re going about it the right way.”

“You would know, wouldn’t you,” I teased.

Grandpa Joe winked but said nothing.

We arrived at our destination not long after. The light green leaves of spring were just now giving way to the deeper greens of summer. Cicadas were screaming their heads off in a drone that could be heard from all directions at once. I got out of the car and waited for him to grab the cooler with our lunch in it. He slung it over his shoulder. We were off into the woods.

The trail wasn’t one I’d been on before—it wasn’t in the big forest to the north where I’d camped out for a few years. It was more of a day hiking area where we could climb a small mountain, have lunch, and return. The trail was well marked and easy to follow, so most of my attention could be given to Grandpa Joe rather than figuring out where to go.

“You said something about healing as soon as it goes down,” he said. “How will that work?”

“There’ll be a tutorial to help prepare people. The first thing that’ll happen is that it’ll heal them. Then there’s a combat and a crafting portion after. The point is to try to find a class and profession that matches their skills, aptitudes, and desires.”

“That’s a good idea. What happens to someone who is traveling when this tutorial happens?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure. But I can make it do something. Options include making it near-instant—so they can go back to what they were doing before. Or I could automatically send them to wherever they were going—any cars or planes would go where they will… and crash, most likely.”

“That’s a tough one,” he said. “I can see the benefits for both. I would suggest the first is better—if you can pull that off.”

“Oh, and another thing I forgot to mention. Whenever someone reaches sixteen years of age, they will go through the tutorial. This is so that in the future, everyone gets the same opportunity.”

“I can see that.”

“The other thing I’m sorta stuck on is designing things in such a way that it forces people to not be too lazy. If I stick all monsters in dungeons that people can raid for loot and such, it’ll go poorly. I can see many governments just locking people out from them because of control or whatever. And given the aliens that are on the way, that can’t happen, right?”

“Right. So what did you have in mind.”

“Make the dungeons unstable. They can break if not raided often enough. Or I can make there be roaming monsters that need to be dealt with. That would make things significantly more dangerous.”

“Hmm. I think the first option would work better. The second—as you said—is rather dangerous. The way society is now will have to change, that’s always dangerous. To throw in even more changes to how towns and cities are constructed will make it even worse. On the other hand, the more severe the change, the less likely people are to try to return to how things used to be. You know, because it would be impossible due to the monsters. Ultimately, it depends upon your goal.”

“The goal is sorta two-fold. First, I want to save humanity from what’s coming—the monsters, the changes. The second is that I want people to be strong enough to shrug off the alien invasion that’ll come in a decade or two. I want whatever happens to humanity to be in our hands and not pushed by forces beyond our control.”

“That’s a noble quest for sure,” he said. “I say go with your gut on this one. I agree that keeping things static will do no one any good. Letting all the monsters roam free would probably be a disaster, too—if for the opposite reason.”

“Right. That’s why I wanted to talk to you about it. I can only go so far in my own head. I’ll miss things and not think it through. I don’t want to be caught off guard later because I half-assed it.”

“Mmhm.”

I continued to hike and chat with Grandpa Joe. The trees thinned to shrubs the higher we climbed. After two hours, we reached the summit. The winds were fierce up there without anything to get in their way. I sat with my back against a large rock to shelter me from the wind. He sat next to me.

Lunch consisted of a juice box, sandwich, and a small bag of chips. After a long hike, it felt great to get to rest in a place with such a wonderful view. Airing out my concerns with someone I could trust was exactly what I needed. It wasn’t the bought trust of Jack or Gregory. It was genuine. Unlike with Mom and Dad, I felt a connection—something that had eluded me for a long time. I sniffed and wiped my eyes, a grin glued to my face.