"What the hell kind of answer is that?!" shouted Adam.

An accurate one.

Adam sighed. "Fine, can you please explain how he cheated and why that corrupted me?"

Acceptable knowledge that can be learned will be shared. Restricted or influential knowledge will be omitted. The following explanation can be given because current Adam Clemens has already learned how souls are structured.

The predecessor Adam Clemens won the invasions, surviving past all other natives. Before using the option to return his memories to the past, he destroyed his own memories to clear space, much like current Adam Clemens did to Cruxannith'cz'Jurzax. Then the predecessor combined the class section of the soul belonging to Gregor Munstean into his own memory section. His intention was to send the Grand Blood Berserker class to you, taking the place of his returning memories.

"He did all that after surviving the invasions once?" asked Adam with surprise. "I can't picture myself being able to figure all that out."

It seemed weird that he could have gathered enough experience and knowledge to do all that, especially considering the oddness of have a race specific class. There was no scenario where Adam could imagine someone going from a nobody to a powerhouse that knew how to game the [System].

Negative. Predecessor Adam Clemens had sent memories back previously.

"Oh, well that makes more sense. Then he, or I? Er, my predecessor had already survived once?" asked Adam idly, knowing that ultimately it didn't matter.

Negative.

"Then he survived twice?"

Negative.

Adam's brow furrowed. If he had already sent his memories back, but it wasn't once or twice, then, "How many times did he survive?"

Predecessor Adam Clemens survived sixty-eight times before sacrificing his knowledge and experiences to send you a powerful class.

Adam's jaw dropped. His brain froze at the information. It wasn't just that someone could survive that many times. In video games, the more you played through a game the easier and faster it became. But 68 times? Adam could only think about how boring it would be to relive the same things over and over, especially with all the death and conflict. What would that have done to a man?

"Was he insane?!"

Like strength, sanity is too vague a term to quantify without specific parameters.

"He must have been batty as a loon, huh?"

Many current natives find the current Adam Clemens low on sanity.

"Was that a joke?" snapped Adam in surprise at the words printed in his view.

Negative.

Adam just shrugged it off. What did it matter who thought him insane. His actions were succeeding and protecting those who mattered. After hearing what the [System] said, Adam was pretty sure he could survive to the end as well, but that was against what he was trying to accomplish. It was also against the voice in the corruption telling him to conquer.

Speaking his next thoughts out loud, Adam said, "I guess that's hopefully. If things go badly, I can always just survive solo and get the reset, right?"

There was a pause for several seconds, almost as if the [System] was thinking. Maybe it was considering how to break it to him more gently. It the end the harsh reality struck him directly.

Negative. Current Adam Clemens is unable to use the survival option.

"What?! Why?"

Current Adam Clemens soul is both full and corrupted. The function to return memories cannot be used with the available patterns in your memory section. The amount and changes in memory methods would destroy a native's mind irreparably.

Adam signed in disappointment. He felt a weight settle around him. There were no fallback options, no redo. He won or he died…everyone would die. Whatever the predecessor did was a one-time attempt…and had failed. The current Adam was a failure and broken beyond [System] help.

Disappointment and depression welled up inside him. The inevitability of his loss wrapped around Adam. He slid further into a slouch on his chair as his shoulders slumped. Memories of Emily captured by both the Red Clan and the Scyrric played in his mind.

Pictures of the hordes of enemies that he saw in future Gregor's memories attacking Jackson sprang into his imagination. The whole city crumbled, not just the walls like in the Scyrric attack. Buildings fell and became ruins. People were killed in the streets. His parents would die to any of a thousand different attacks. Abbey, Alissa, Andrea, and Brittney would fall trying to protect people, with Lucas and the rest of his people fighting until their deaths.

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It was all hopeless. Adam wasn't one to imagine himself as special, or better than everyone else, but there was a surety in his thoughts. His predecessor had failed to save the world 68 times. What could one broken, unable to level kid do that was better? Was he even a different person than the other Adam?

Then a chill crackled out from his mind and struck the rest of his body. Sparks of cold caused him to shiver. A familiar voice spoke. It had been unwanted before, a monster inside that tried to control and order him. This time the harshness was still there, but Adam felt a reassurance in it. There was a certainty in it which wasn't affected by depression or doubts or self-esteem. The voice spoke in a way that would force reality to change. It commanded the world to follow its order.

CONQUER!

"That's right!" exclaimed Adam. "I'm no worse off than the beginning of the conversation. Nothing has changed. I didn't know about the reset option before and didn't doubt myself then. Being broken doesn't matter either, since I can still fight. I will still fight! It was victory or death before, and it is victory or death now."

Adam rose in his chair. He looked at the former enemy sitting catatonic in the cell before him. She had hounded him since before the invasions. All her experience, knowledge, support, and traps had been overcome. People had died but way fewer than should have. They wouldn't have stood a chance without Adam's strength gained from the corruption. He might be broken and a failure compared to what future Adam had intended, but that didn't mean that Adam couldn't still overcome.

The corruption was the element that had allowed him to conquer the goblin Rift base to get started on this path. It had allowed him to defeat the Red Clan speaker and the Scyrric. It had given him the differences to throw off the invaders' expectations. They had all the knowledge, except for what he was and what he could do. And with those differences, he could find new ways to overcome.

The other humans, the invaders, and even the [System] were playing by a set of rules that Adam wasn't bound to. This wasn't a time to be depressed, but to continue to change the rules. If no natives had defeated the invasions, then the current rules did him no favors.

That was what he was doing with his captive. That was what he would continue to figure out. There had to be a way to increase his strength further so he could face the next waves, even if it wasn't through leveling.

Another thought struck Adam.

"Why did my predecessor send back the berserker class? It's powerful, but I doubt it's strong enough to fight off all the invasions."

Correct. Predecessor Adam Clemens sent it back in the hopes that current Adam Clemens would evolve it to **Authority Standing too low**. That class had been enough to destroy entire worlds, and he hoped it would be enough to chase off the invaders. Although he had no way to prevent it from also destroying your world and all its inhabitants.

"Wow. Just wow. That seems like faulty reasoning. What was his plan to prevent Earth from being destroyed?"

Predecessor Adam Clemens had no plan. He left that up to current Adam Clemens to figure out.

Adam let his breath hiss between his teeth. "What a lazy bastard! That guy didn't even have a plan? Man, if he was here, I'd punch him in the face. He had to have known I'm too lazy to figure it out either. He was the one with all the knowledge."

With a minute of ranting, Adam got back to the conversation.

"You mentioned earlier that he had a higher standing, then you just omitted information because my standing is too low. Was his standing so high because of all his survivals?"

Partially correct. In the history of worlds invaded, it is rare for anyone to make it to the reset option. For a native to make it twice in a row has never happened. Predecessor Adam Clemens doing it 68 times in a row has aided the [System] in its purpose greater than almost any other being throughout history.

"Your purpose? You have a reason you are organizing these invasions?"

Correct.

"And future me helped you in this purpose?"

Correct. Predecessor Adam Clemens unknowingly aided the [System] throughout all his resets.

"That earned him more standing and authority?"

Correct. Though he was never notified of this or used it. Predecessor Adam Clemens has been placed 8th on the list of contributors to the [System]. Instead, the [System] has used this extra authority to allow communication with the descendent.

"Oh?" said Adam, a little excited to hear about his place atop a list that must include millions of trillions of people throughout universal history, even if it was a different version of him. His curiosity and an unusual bout of competitiveness had him ask, "Where am I on the list?"

Current Adam Clemens has done nothing to merit being on the list. No benefit to the [System] has come from your actions. As a result, future communication with the [System] will be limited and restricted.

"Oh," said Adam morosely. Fortunately, his typical lack of competitiveness kicked in and he was able to shake it off. "Then I better get what I can out of you now. What is your purpose?"

Query denied. Authority Standing too low.

"Damn! Then let's try this. How did my predecessor benefit you?"

Predecessor Adam Clemens benefitted the [System] by using the survival reset options to **Authority Standing too low**.

"Sonofa…" cursed Adam. He tried to think quickly. What else could he find out about before running out of goodwill from the [System]? With the pressure and sense of time dwindling, his mind blanked out. Every time he reached for a question it flittered away from his thoughts. This was worse than any school test he had taken.

Adam broke out into a sweat, odd for him. His mouth was dry, and his fingers squirmed as he demanded useful questions from his brain.

"Are their other side effects I can expect due to the corruption?" he blurted.

Current Adam Clemens soul is unprecedented, so outcomes are not known. As well as the currently known effects, more side effects are likely. Current Adam Clemens soul is structured and operating in ways contrary to its design. This may result in, but is not limited to, reduced effectiveness in soul energy, decreased or deviating effectiveness of abilities, body failure, mental failure, intellectual failure, soul failure, inaccessible or destroyed memories, unforeseen abilities gained, current abilities lost, and/or personality displacement.

"Well, screw that!" muttered Adam. "That's the stuff of nightmares without giving me any actual information. Sounds like the warning from a drug commercial. Then, how about this. Did my predecessor and Gregor have a relationship? If so, what was it?"

Predecessor Adam Clemens and Gregor Munstean were more than acquaintances. They were…**allotted time expired**. The [System] will now cease conversation with Adam Clemens.

Warning, although Adam Clemens is operating in ways unforeseen by the [System], possible actions arising from the soul bond with Cruxannith'cz'Jurzax may run contrary to the purpose of the [System]. These actions may be considered a threat if completed. [System] warnings will be provided in such a case. The [System] will continue to monitor you and may contact you again.

Communication terminated.

Adam sat there stunned. He reread the last message several times. His bond to Cruxannith might be a problem? The [System] will contact him when it wants to while ignoring him? It will be monitoring?

That last one he knew was inescapable since the [System] seemed to be affecting everything, but seeing it written just made it feel gross.

"Creepy voyeur," he complained. "Worse than Tom! Slightly."

Then he signed and slumped. He went into his menu and read through the whole conversion. Or at least the [System]'s words, since the notifications didn't record his questions to it. Everything it said seemed straight forward, except where it refused to answer.

So many answers, and yet it didn't change anything. It didn't give him hints on how to get stronger. While it provided him with context, it didn't give him any info that would change his decisions or plans.

Adam guessed that was why the answers were acceptable. Because they didn't change anything. He was no better off now than before the conversation. As interesting as it might be, he still needed to find answers by himself, still needed to discover a way to grow in strength and ability.

Adam stared into the cell, at the former Red Clan invader. She stared back with no consciousness. Adam allowed himself one more sigh. Then he propped himself back up and pulled a hand full of snack bars from a pocket.

There might not have been useful information, but the consequences were laid out clearly once more. Victory or death for everyone. He couldn't imagine other people surviving the invasions if he couldn't lead the way, reinforced by hearing that his predecessor had managed it 68 times.

Well, Adam could picture Tom somehow surviving, talking his way into survival once the rest of them were gone. But really, would that help save humanity? Adam could only imagine a time traveling Tom as being worse for Earth than the invaders.

With renewed determination, Adam crunched on his snacks and dove back into Cruxannith's soul to see what he could find.

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