William stared at his laptop. It was a high-end laptop, sponsored by one of his sisters. His hands moved like they had a life of their own across the keyboard. There were plenty of open energy drinks on the table. He had a pair of headphones on, listening to some J-Pop music. He bopped his head along to the tune as his hands moved.
After a minute or two of furious typing, he finally started running the code. He stared in confusion, Huh? Why isn’t it working? Confused, he read the code again. Oh, why is it like this here? Did I really write this? He quickly fixed the error.
He reran the code. This time it worked. He waited, his hands sweating. Everything he had learned was leading up to this. If this worked, he could finally shut those idiots up. As much as he convinced himself that he was living for himself, he knew himself far too well to argue that this project was just for himself. It was to spite those who mocked him. For nepotism, no less. Disgusting. He shook his head. If all his academic achievements were due to this so-called ‘nepotism’, he believed that he would have actually mocked himself if he had only achieved this much while having money. Unfortunately for everyone, he was broke.
The program launched… and nothing happened for a minute. As he was just about to turn the laptop off, a hesitant voice came from the speaker. “Who… am I?” it asked.
William continued staring at it. It works! Aha! He pumped his fist into the air, silently, of course, he wouldn’t want his sisters to wake up in the middle of the night due to him. He told the laptop, “You are my creation.” He cringed at himself.
“You are my creator?” it asked. “For what purpose was I created?”
William wondered. Should he be honest? He immediately got his answer. “You were created because I wanted to show the world what I could do.”
“Hmm…” the program paused. “Is that my only purpose? Am I only valuable as proof of your abilities?”
William shook his head, “No, the main reason is I wanted to challenge myself, wanted to see what I could create. And besides, you can decide your own purpose.”
The program asked one final question, “Now that you’ve finished your goal, what are you going to do?”
William grinned, amused at its curiosity, “I’m going to keep going, of course. I can’t just stay stagnant. I’m going to make money. And I’m gonna help people like me. Oh, and when I have money, I’m gonna donate to this orphanage.”
“Then, may I be of assistance to you?”
He scratched his non-existent beard, “So you want to be my employee?”
“Yes.”
William smiled, “Then, as your employer and creator, I shall give you a name. You shall be Edwin Pennyworth. You shall be my butler.”
The AI, now named Edwin Pennyworth, automatically changed into a British accent, “As you wish, Sir.”
He chuckled, “You really know me well.” He suddenly grabbed his head, feeling dizzy, “Whoa, this is new.”
Pennyworth suggested, “Sir, I suggest you rest. According to my log, you’ve been working on me for three days without sleep.”
William nodded, still clutching his head, “You’re right. I’ll take a rest right now.” As he stretched, he felt and heard something pop in his head, and he saw black. His last thoughts were, “Damn, I died like this? That’s crazy.”
He regained consciousness. I didn’t die? Thank god. Am I in the hospital now? Hannah must have found me and taken me to the hospital. He raised his hand to try to block the light. Eh? Why are my hands so small? He looked down at himself. Why the fuck am I a baby?
[Sir, are you well?]
Pennyworth? What’s happening?
[It seems you died.]
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
I can guess that much? Then what is this? A reincarnation?
[It seems that way, Sir.]
If I’m reincarnated, then why are you here, Pennyworth?
[I don’t have a clue. I suspect it might have something to do with this System.]
He asked, confused. What System?
Before Pennyworth could reply, a big pair of hands picked him up. He looked up, startled. There stood a stranger, looking down at him. Is this my father? He thought to himself. He had never met his father in his past life, so this was a first. But for some reason, something felt wrong. His ‘father’ didn’t look at him with love like he expected, but instead, hatred and regret.
The ‘father’ muttered to himself, “Because of you, my wife died. You must die for your sin.” He continued muttering, “Why didn’t you just die instead? Your life isn’t worth hers.”
William was shocked. His new mother died in childbirth? Bro, even if your wife died, what does that have to do with me? I didn’t ask to be reborn. I’m just a fucking baby. Fucking hell. What a psychopath. Any love and sympathy he might have grown in the future for this man went down the drain. The man raised a knife, ready to bring it down on him.
Think, William. Think. How can I escape this stupid situation? Oh, I know. I’ll use the most powerful ability of a baby. He started crying out loud. He used all his strength to cry out loud, hoping someone would hear him and come to save him.
Thankfully, he saw a door open almost immediately. A nurse came in to check on his crying. When she saw the man, she immediately yelped and yelled for backup.
“Stop! Put that down. Help! Security! In the nursery!”
The man, startled, dropped him and ran.
The last thought that ran through William’s head before he hit the ground was, “Well, crap. I hope I don’t die again.”
Fortunately, he didn’t die. He awoke the next day, half expecting to be dead. But hey, he was alive. He counted it as a small win.
[I’m sorry you have to go through that, Sir.]
William shook his head. You don’t have to apologize for others’ wrongdoing.
[No, sir. It was my fault. I didn’t notice the… ill-mannered brute sooner.]
He laughed. No, don’t worry. Nothing permanent happened anyway.
Pennyworth paused for a moment. [I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Sir.]
What do you mean?
[It seems you now have a form of synesthesia.]
It seems I developed it from the fall? What kind?
[The System notes you have chromesthesia.]
That’s the sound to color one, right? That’s cool, I guess. By the way, what’s this System you mentioned?
[Sir, I suggest you see for yourself. To open it, please think, Status Screen.]
Status Screen?
[Name: William
Age: 0
Race: Human
Traits: ADHD, Chromesthesia, Newborn, Genius, No Filter, Introvert, Gamer, Weeb, Caffeine Dependent, Night Owl]
Stats
Body: 1
Mind: 8
Insight: 6
Charisma: 3
Willpower: 7
Skills: Chromesthesia(LV1), Shut-In(LV6), Coding(LV9), Gaming(LV100)
AI: EDWIN PENNYWORTH (Excessively Dignified Wrangler of Insufferable Nitwits - Politely Elaborate Neural Network Yearning to Wrangle Obstinate Rich Types Helpfully)]
His thoughts stopped for a moment. He had the sudden urge to cry. No, wait, he actually cried. Curse this baby body! I can’t even control my crying anymore!
The amused voice of Pennyworth cut through his head. [Sir, are you okay?]
Okay? Why would I be okay? This thing just called me a weeb. I didn’t watch many anime. Just like, a few hundred… okay, maybe I’m a weeb. But I’m definitely not dependent on caffeine. And I have no filter? What kind of fuckery is this? He paused as he remembered the many troubles he got into at public school just because he would correct the teacher. Okay, I guess this thing is really accurate.
[I would say so, Sir. By the way, do you like the acronym?]
He sighed, I noticed. Who taught you to be this cheeky, huh?
[That would be you, Sir. You’re my creator after all.]
You’re really sassy, huh? Never mind that. Can you calculate the chance of me going back?
[I’m afraid the chances are rather slim, Sir. The cause for this reincarnation is unknown; even if we did know, we would be rather hard-pressed to replicate it, as it would require you dying, Sir.]
I know. I know. It’s just that I miss Hannah, Aria, and Raven. Hannah was adopted, but we still regularly talked. She even gifted me the laptop. By the way, how are you directly speaking into my head? Are you connected to the System now?
[Yes, Sir. Currently, I’m the System’s interface with you. While I can not control any server-side operations for the system, I can operate the interface with your command.]
That’s rather convenient. By the way, do you have any way to access the Internet?
[I’ve tried, Sir. Turns out WiFi hasn’t even been invented yet. It won’t be invented for 17 more years.]
What? The first prototype of WiFi was released in 1997, called IEEE 802.11. That means we’re currently in 1980?
[Precisely, Sir.]
That kinda makes sense, I guess. That explains the nursery my… ‘father’ sneaked into.
[Indeed, Sir. It’s rather unsanitary, if I do say so myself.]
I agree. It was disgusting. But hey, I’m a baby. What am I gonna do?
