"----!" Something called for me.

  I was in someplace dark.

  I couldn't see nor feel anything.

  "---g!" The calling came again, but clearer this time.

  A light was forming and getting closer.

  It felt warm.

  "GREG!" Jerald screamed into my mind and my eyes shot open.

  I looked around the room. There was no green, no eye made of text. 'Was it a dream?'

  "What happened? ...You called me Greg?" I asked as my mind raced to catch up. My body felt like lead.

  "That's what I want to know! Also, now's not the time for that. You asked about a weird gut feeling then started convulsing midway through my response!" Jerald was panicking about something.

  "Is that why my body feels like lead?" I asked, almost slurring as my body tried to wake up from whatever had happened.

  "Look at yourself. I don't think it was that." I looked down at myself as Jerald said.

  My body had changed. It was longer, but unnaturally so. It reminded me of that weird dream I had of my body stretching out.

  "What the hell?" I struggled to stand, but once I did my EA skill adapted quickly. I made my way to the bathroom.

  I stared at myself in the mirror. It went from the floor to the ceiling, so I got a good look at my new form. I had gotten much taller, and it was obvious my legs and arms had been stretched out. I didn't get any wider, so I looked very thin. My space suit had grown with my body, so that was a plus. For some reason I didn't feel all that upset about it.

  "That's not all." Jerald said while sounding hesitant to bring it up.

  "What is it? Is it bad?" I was slightly worried now.

  "I lost control of 14.09% within your system." I stared at my hands as Jerald spoke. My fingers far too long now.

  "What? What did you lose? How?" I had so many questions.

  "I can't describe just how large that 14.09% is. It would be faster if you looked at your status sheet. There are things I can't see anymore." Jerald sounded more freaked out than usual.

  Following his instruction, I opened my status.

  "Let me guess, you can't see my luck stat or my new title." I said as I looked over my stats.

  "I cannot. Are they there for you?"

  "They are. And green."

  "...Green? Like the previous system?" Jerald sounded less panicky but still weirded out.

  "Yeah... I'm going to check on the title. See what it does. You should try and look through my memories if possible." I didn't get a response as I opened the Title.

  'Yep. That's broken. And not in a good way.' I sighed at the headache that this will inevitably cause.

  "I don't see anything. There's a gap when you had your seizure. You find anything?" Jerald asked when I finished reading it the second time.

  "It's busted. Full on Error Code within the title and a new Skill I can't read."

  "Really? What does it say?" Jerald sounded surprised.

  "Something about an integrity breach and some unknown entity interfering. I think it's talking about you. It went from 100% corrupted to 85.91%. Though I think my last system was compromised when I got here. I can't describe what's happening, but I might have dragged something with me through the veil." I said while looking at the corrupted smiley face at the bottom.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  "Oh... That explains some things at least." Jerald seemed uncomfortable.

  "What do we do?" I asked, unsure of how to proceed now that I have 2 systems fighting for control.

  One system is magical and technical while the other is something corrupted by the outside. Both trying to make me stronger for some reason or another.

  "I have no idea. Despite losing 14.09%, I'm still perfectly fine. It's like that part of me was just set aside, not erased. I could possibly take full control again, but I don't think I'll be able to stop it completely."

  "It came from that weird package for when I turned level 5 right? Is there one for every milestone?"

  "There is. I had thought I could modify them from the glance I gave them, but now that I'm really looking them over I can't find anyway to remove them." Jerald sounded unhappy.

  "Are you jealous that my ex is trying to take me back?" I teased the voice in my head.

  "No, I'm mad that I'm once again being threatened by your mere existence. First it was the admins, now it's some eldritch thing from the veil." Jerald sighed and it felt like he threw his nonexistent arms in the air.

  "Well, at least I got some extra Stat Points and Skill Points." I muttered as I started looking through the menu again.

  "Wait, wait, wait- you got MORE points to spend from that? I should have given you less." Jerald sounded pissed for a new reason. The lack of balance.

  "Oh I didn't tell you how high my current Luck stat is~? It's a little over 400,000 now. So I'm going to pump Intelligence to become a genius!" I smugly smiled and put 300 points into the Stat.

  "Having a high Int Stat doesn't make you a genius. Ok it kind of does, but your forgetfulness will stick around. It's a quirk of your brain. Also, FUCK YOU! WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S ABOVE 400,000?!" Jerald still sounded more upset about the Stat then losing 14% of his power.

  I chuckled as I didn't respond but focused on my menu. I still had 600 free Points to use, so I pumped my Str and Agi Stats by 150 each. Then dropped the remaining 300 into health. Of course, I didn't feel any different.

  "You're bluffing. There is no way your Luck Stat is that high." Jerald was still going on about it.

  "You're right, it's closer to 500,000. It could be false since the text is corrupted, but I think it really might be true. Let's open the Skill Window and see what I got to purchase." I smiled smugly as I opened the Skill Shop.

  "I'm going to actually cry. If I had eyes, I would be clawing them out of my skull in frustration. This is ridiculous." Jerald was utterly defeated.

  "You didn't make these wonderful things? The Skill Shop didn't have descriptions before. I had to ask what each one did." My eyes were gleaming at the skills.

  "No I didn't make these... these abominations to balance. I only have some control over your Skills now. It's one of the features I can't control anymore." Jerald was pretty pissed that his whole balancing act was shattered so easily.

  "Don't be a big baby, I'll only be using them like all the time now." I had to stop myself from laughing at the sighing Jerald.

  I had 60 Skill Points to use, and I had a general idea of what I wanted. Having more Energy is a given, so I'll have some points dedicated for that. I also wanted to increase my Telekinesis skill by a lot. I had power but I lacked finesse. Having a larger range for my weird Astral Projection skill would be good too, but it's not that important. My language Skill was already pretty good, so it would be a waste to upgrade it too much, but I also worry about running into a lone alien that I can't understand. 'Decisions, decisions...'

  Thinking about it now, I needed millions upon millions of Mana, or Energy to get home. What level did my DG skill need to be for interplanar travel?

  "Jerald, what level does my Dimensional Gate skill need to be so I can get home?"

  "Well the skill needs to surpass the universe in limitations. You basically need to be able to hop from one side of the universe to the other. Which is impossible since the universe is infinite. You know about how some infinities are bigger than others? It's like that." Jerald tried to explain it, but I understood what he meant.

  "So I need to somehow make the price so infinitely tiny that the cost doesn't matter compared to the distance?" I tried to reason it in my own words.

  "Kind of? At some point, when the cost is so small it might as well be zero, the Skill will be free to use to a certain distance. You need the Skill to be free to use for an infinite distance. Which should line up with the cost of inter-dimensional travel, making it cheap enough to cast. The cost is divided by 2 with every level up, and the cost is 6 at level 1 for 10 feet then... I'm so tired of you breaking this universe Greg." Jerald sounded defeated and incredibly pissed off.

  "What? What did I do now?" I asked, genuinely unaware of what happened.

  "The system makes a skill cost nothing once the cost reaches 0.01 or below, because it's a drain on resources to calculate that low of a number for an uncountable amount of individuals, so your DG skill will be completely free to use at level 11. You could go planet to planet instantly at no cost, as long as you can either visualize the location or see it. You are a fucking monster and I hate you."

  "So then... I could go home right now? I could up my DG skill to 15 or maybe even just 12 and my skill will be technically a larger infinity than the universe?" I asked, my mouth falling open.

  "Yeah. This is bullshit. I know I made the previous system to make you get out of this universe as fast as possible but come on! REALLY?!" Jerald said something interesting that caught my attention.

  "Wait, you made it broken on purpose, then it got even more broken? I could have gone home so long ago!" I was upset as well, but clearly not as much as Jerald was.

  I could go home right now. Hell, I could theoretically go anywhere. The multiverse theory implies that every instance of any possibility conceivable is real. Something was bothering me though.

  "It calculates it as zero, but where does the cost come from? The System? Surely it isn't free to just universe hop." E=mc2 and all that.

  "The System that controls this universe will cover the cost because it truly has an infinite amount of Mana, but you'd be shit out of luck in a place without it." Jerald responded, still seething.

  Then I would need my own Energy to be on par with The Systems... 'So, since my Energy doubles with every level... I'd only need my EE skill to be level 265 before the number is greater than the number of atoms in the universe. Well, my universe.' I knew the mathematical guess was around 10 squared by 80. Thankfully my new Int Stat was helping me run the numbers mentally.

  "Just so you know, you would need more than double the amount of atoms in this universe to even reach a quarter of The Systems reserves." Jerald said, almost like he could read my mind.

  "So level 266 or 270 then." I chuckled as Jerald didn't respond.

  He likely already calculated the amount of Energy I would need to be on par. Which is doable. Very doable. I had gotten 60 Skill Points from the last quest and milestone combined. Now that Jerald couldn't interfere, or I hoped he couldn't, with the next Quest Reward I could possibly break out of this universe before the year is up. Well, I could do it right now since The System would cover the cost, but then I would be trapped back home. No. I'd get strong enough until I could do it myself.

  I went ahead and dumped 10 Skill Points into DG, making it 12 and leaving me with 50. I then put 8 points into Telekinesis, bringing it to 10 and leaving me with 42. I put 2 into Universal Comprehension, putting it at 5 and rounding the remaining points to 40. As much as I would love to put the rest into Energy, I needed my other skills as well. I bought Dungeon Master for 5 points, putting it at 5 and leaving me with 35. I did the same for Soul Absorption, now I had 30 points left. I bought Omni Forge for 10 points, so now it was at 10 and leaving me with 20 points.

  I didn't like having skills at just level 1, so I spent 4 points on both Eldritch Astral Projection and Harvest. Both were now level 5 and left me with 12 left over points for Eldritch Energy. Which I, of course, put into the skill and brought my 1,920 Energy to a whopping 7,864,320.

  As I looked at my new stats and my new body in the mirror, I finally understood why Jerald kept calling me a monster.

  "I really am a monster." I muttered as I stopped ignoring my new body and really looked at it.

  Instead of my usual 6 foot 4 with the suit adding a few inches, I was now at least 9 fee tall. Give or take a few inches. I should feel something regarding this whole situation, but I can't. How can I when it all feels like a dream or a game. I struggled to fully affect creatures with 1,920 Energy, but now... now I could turn them into nothing with a thought. I could strip them down by a cellular level. I hadn't expected my Telekinesis to become so refined that I could grab cells, but now I can. I could grab each and every single one in everything around me.

  I could feel them with my mind now. Each little fraction of this universe, mere suggestions of how it's supposed to be. What could I do if my Telekinesis was 20? Or even 100? Could I grab light itself?

  "You should check your new Quests. Let's rip this bandage off." Jerald brought me out of my thoughts, and I had to agree with him.

  I opened the Quests menu.

  "1 rare, 1 uncommon, and 1 unique quest?! I give up on trying to balance any of the shit you do. I quit. Go ahead, break the universe. I don't care anymore." Jerald was fuming again.

  "Is that why the Rewards are so... absurdly different? They have rarities?" I didn't know that. I was also upset that there wasn't an obscene amount of Skill Points available like last time.

  "Sort of. It all depends on circumstance. You just happen to have 400,000 luck, so of course you get all kinds of goodies and lucky encounters. You cheater." Jerald was still helpful, even while pissed.

  "Hm. I completely forgot to ask, but how long was I out for?" I was so distracted by everything, that I had forgotten about my little drone pals.

  "About 10 minutes. Your body grew really fast, having done it all within 2 minutes." Jerald was now a mix of pissed and grossed out.

  'So they were likely still busy.' While it had been around 8 hours since I told them to start building, they wouldn't be done for a good long while.

  I had planned on eventually moving the entire operation planet side, but now I wanted it done asap. Thankfully, I had a way to appear instantly from the surface back to the ship if I needed to. When I thought about my Dimensional Gate skill, since it was now free thanks to The System in this universe, I could leave multiple sets of Gates open 24/7. Effectively making transportation a nonissue.

  "You know what Jerald?" I asked, a smile growing on my lips.

  "What?" Jerald asked, sounding annoyed.

  "I don't care if this is a dream or a game or purgatory or anything at all anymore. I'm going to have fun, and nothing is going to stop me from doing whatever I want. Because it might as well be my dream or game or whatever. Mine." I declared. Jerald remained silent.

  I was probably losing it. Or lost it. It didn't matter anymore. I was already living however I felt like, so it's not like anything was going to change. I wasn't going to anyway. The universe though?

  I was going to make this universe my bitch.