[Integration Progress: 100%]
Before Nick could focus on why the color turned darker nor the vile feeling seeping into his core, the screen returned with a full progress of integration.
"Wait," Nick thought to himself as he saw the notification. "What Integration is this?!"
Then, as if it knew what he thought, the screen responded.
[Welcome, Nick Jackson, to the Abyssal Sea. Due to your unfortunate and violent death, you have been granted the opportunity to live again. While some souls are granted the choice to travel into a new universe and others kidnapped, your new universe has already been pre-selected due to extenuating circumstances.]
"Huh?!" Nick thought to himself. "What do you mean?! What's happening?!"
[Your soul has been judged by the Primal Powers. Deemed innocent, but unable to return to your homeworld as that world is not integrated with the Eternal System. As compensation for the unavailable immediate return to your homeworld, you are granted three boons and a new life to live within a universe you are greatly familiar with.]
While that did not fully sate his fears about his current situation, it did help make him feel somewhat better despite the lingering sickness. With that, he decided to pay more attention to what this screen was telling him.
It was either continue paying attention or continue down a dark spiral of whatever infected him from the dark crimson water.
[First, the new universe.] the screen began to explain. [You have been allowed reincarnation into the Whoniverse (Doctor Who) and, without spending a boon, will arrive after the Time War. This will prevent direct interference into the war between the Daleks and Time Lords, but also prevent you from revealing your knowledge of specific events related to said war.]
Nick understood that this was the cost for a 'free' bonus to an already free addition. While this would prevent him from telling Eleven (or Matt Smith's incarnation of the Doctor) about what the Moment did, he'd have to wait for him and Clara to catch up to that point. He nodded at this and the screen took this as his permission to continue.
[Second, the boons. These boons will enable you to live and/or survive in this universe, but a fair warning. Some boons are powerful enough to affect probability (ex. Milo Murphy's Murphy's Law effect; Phineas and Ferb's Phineas and Ferb Effect) and can be detectable to the universe's natives. Most of the boons available to you come from other universes/franchises and are unable to be detected even by the Pantheon and Division.]
"That's understandable," Nick thought to himself after reading this next notification. "Even if I wanted to choose those types of boons, I get the feeling that affecting probability like that would make things more complicated than it needed to be. I don't want to deal with Davros or any of the Doctor's enemies somehow figuring out the existence of 'negative probability ions' or 'positive probability ions' and making the Doctor lose at everything. That would be extremely bad."
[Lastly, the race selection.] The screen said next, after Nick thought more about the aftereffects of some of the boons, to return his focus. [You will be allowed to select a few races that exist within the Whoniverse. Some races that will be unavailable to choose (ex. Dalek, Sontaran, Cyberman, Carrionite, Mire, Skithra, Axons, and Weeping Angel) are due to restrictions and soul resonance. You are, however, allowed to choose a race that does not exist within the Whoniverse at your own peril.]
Then, after reading this last notification, Nick let out a soft sigh of relief that he had unconsciously been holding. He had no intention to choose a race that would negatively affect the Doctor nor did he want to be a Dalek in the first place. Ever since he first saw Rose channel the Time Vortex to wipe out the Dalek ship in her 'Bad Wolf' form, he felt like wiping out the Daleks himself.
Another race that the screen said he couldn't choose was the Weeping Angels. That meant that he wouldn't have to deal with being living stone and forced to only move when unseen by any other living creature. This was another race he felt immense anger at as they literally siphon away Artron Energy and feed off it like stolen bread to a starving street urchin.
Yet, mere moments after he remembered that scene about Rose Tyler using the Time Vortex to wipe out the Dalek ship, his mind returned to that scene in the show.
Something about it stirred in his soul's core from that memory. It was like something deep within him was waking up from that, but it couldn't fully wake up.
'Not yet,' it seemed to murmur in its sleep...
Then, as if the moment quickly arrived, it dashed away in a flash. Nick turned back to the screen and, feeling a sense of adventure in his veins, tried to tap on the words [Race Selection].
The screen changed.
==[Race Selection]==
The following races are listed in order of soul resonance with the top being the highest resonance rate:
- [Human Race] - Resonance Rate: 96%
- [Highborn Gallifreyan (TimeLord)] - Resonance Rate: 93%
- [Silurian] - Resonance Rate: 75%
- [...]
==[]==
While the resonance between Human and Time Lord were in the nineties, it did surprise him that the selection list made humans as the only race his soul has the highest capability with. Nick had heard of many fanfictions where the main character would immediately choose to be a Time Lord in their new lives, which he was understanding of. Who wouldn't want to switch to a race that has the capability to travel in time, space, live for millennia, and regenerate from most causes of death?
Unfortunately, Nick (despite his clear understanding of their reasons) did not choose to be a Time Lord. He instead choose to remain human in his new life, so he tapped the option for humans in the [Race Selection] list.
==={Race: Human}===
Rarity: Common
Type: Humanoid
Unique Skill(s): Adaptability, Evolutive, Creative Paradox
Humans, in the Omniverse, are relatively common and have their unique origins that vary between worlds. All of humanity, regardless of world or universe of origin, has the ability to adapt to nearly any environment and evolve to varying degrees. Despite this race, in the Whoniverse, being all non-magical and rely on technological advancement to evolve into masters of Earth, they have the ability to be quite clever in a paradoxical manner.
Some humans are stupid and unimaginative and others are average, there do exist exceptional humans that are geniuses of their own right. This also shows an inner paradox of this race as where there are exceptional people with good intentions, there will inevitably be bad apples who exploit their humanity to destroy and sabotage others just for personal benefits.
Starting stat allocation:
- Vitality: 10
- Strength: 10
- Agility: 10
- Intelligence: 10
- Wisdom: 10
==={}===
Nick quickly accepted the next pop-up screen to confirm his race selection as Human. This had automatically generated a status window, or [Profile] by what the screen said.
=={Profile: Nick Jackson}==
Race: Human (Variant - Outworlder)
Age: ?? (Soul State - Does not age)
Level: 1 (EXP to Level: 0/2000)
Tier: [Bronze - Early]
Stat Table:
- Vitality: ??
- Strength: 10
- Agility: 10
- Intelligence: ??
- Wisdom: ??
=={}==
(A/N: A more detailed profile will be available in an Auxiliary chapter.)
With his race selected and a look at his profile, he was ready to select his three boons.