"Your loan has been processed. Please pay 100 XP to the System.
XP status: 0"
Eva blinked three times as she stared at the empty space in front of her.
"Excuse me, what?"
"Your loan has been pro-"
"No, I heard you, but..." Eva laughed nervously.
"With all due respect, voice in my head, I am supposed to be dead. I mean, I am dead." She threw her hand to her head and she scrunched up her face in confusion, still clearly remembering closing her eyes, feeling as though she won't wake up quite soon. Feeling quite frantic and strangely energized, she just continued to shake her head and proceeded to sit up.
"Well, either I'm dead or the cold froze my brain because clearly," Eva winced at herself for raising her voice, and so proceeded to speak much softer.
"Clearly, I shouldn't be talking to thin air," Checking on herself, she tried to stand and was surprised to feel normal. She checked her hands expecting to see them blue, but instead they even seemed pink and felt warm.
As though winter had passed and she didn't feel cold anymore.
Oh, boy.
This just increased her nervousness and made her pace across her shack.
Stopping in front of her beloved plant, she stooped down and sighed. Staring at the resilient plant, Eva came to the conclusion that she's most definitely dead and was now a confused spirit, wandering about this world. She was probably unable to cross over for some stupid reason like being too poor.
She stood up again and looked around.
But where was her body?
The confusion in her increased.
Had someone already taken her away?
As if hearing her thoughts, the voice responded, making her jump and run back to the corner of her shack.
"Negative.
Host's body is below average condition but not critical.
Health has been restored up to 50% by the healing spell.
Emergency healing spell cost: 100 XP
XP status: 0
Please, take on quests to gain XP. Thank you for transacting with the system."
Eva's eye twitched at the statement. What in the world was an XP? And why does she owe the voice some?
"W-Who are you?" She flailed her arms around to see if someone, or, gods forbid, something was in front of her. But she felt nothing. Not even a gust of cold air.
"Quest available to answer host's query. Would host like to hear the details?"
"Uh..." She didn't know what to do. She breathed in several times in an attempt to calm herself down.
She felt like she hadn't quite focused since she woke up, and so she assessed the situation.
The voice was right. She did feel alive. Far from stellar, but... Alive.
She scoffed at herself. The next possibility was that she had gone to the other side briefly, only to come back as crazy.
Great.
"Oh, what the heck. Yeah, sure. What's the quest?"
Yep. Definitely crazy.
She closed her eyes and leaned back, sliding down to sit. She laid her palms beside her as she carressed the grooves on the wooden floor.
"Quest details: Take the introduction to the system.
Goal: Familiarize one's self to the system that will take you to your chosen path to glory.
Loot: 100 XP
Would you like to accept the quest?"
"Yeah, whatever." She ignored the voice in her head as she entertained the possibility of a wizard nearby, playing with her head. Yet as she thought this, she shook her head knowing that opening the door to her shack and letting more of the heat escape just to look outside didn't seem like a wise idea. She opened her eyes and stared blankly at the door as she let the thought pass.
"Congratulations on taking on your first quest! System will begin introduction shortly."
Feeling like a fool listening to this man's voice spouting nonsense, Eva proceeded to bang her head softly against the wall repeatedly, hoping for silence to creep back in.
Silence was good.
Silence meant she's not crazy.
Alas, the 'system' spoke again.
"Please state your full name to sign in to the system."
"Eva S'ven"
"Eva S'ven, identity confirmed."
Eva rolled her eyes.
"Welcome, Eva, to the system that will make all your dreams come true."
Yeah right.
"Would you like to stick to the default interface or open projection of system for visual aid? This option is reversible at any time."
"Go ahead." Thinking that maybe the system could read her thoughts like earlier, she gave responding in her head a shot.
"Affirmative, loading projection." Relieved that she didn't need to keep talking out loud and risk the neighbors thinking she had gone crazy due to hunger, isolation and the cold, she thought that the system understanding her thoughts was at least a redeeming factor for the man behind the voice.
"Projection complete. Proceed to play introduction?"
Resolved to find out just what this new plague in her life was about, she thought that maybe she should pay attention to what the voice was about to say next.
But as she lifted her eyes to look at the floating man in front of her, her face went slack.
"Oh, my..."