I opened my eyes slowly trying to acclimate myself to the sudden light of the place where I was. It took me several minutes to open them completely without being blinded. "Where I am? What site is this?"
I blinked slightly. I closed my eyes and quickly opened them again. "Is this a dream?"
[It's not.]
"This voice ... you!"
[Welcome (Temporary) Host. The place where you are is my personal space. My name is αM199. You can also call me Alphy to make it more simple. A counterattack and rescue system.].- Said the white and purple ball of light that was in front of me.
-System? Host?! What do you mean with these? And this supposed personal space? And what are you?!!!
[Calm down. I will answer the questions. First, a system is an existence created by the God creator of all things. Our missions are various. It depends of department we are assigned. My department is the counterattack but for other reasons that I can't explain now, I was assigned to rescue too.]
I looked at him like this was not happening. "This sounds like a dream. A crazy dream but a dream nevertheless"
[It's not.]
-You are reading my mind!!
[Yes (Temporary) host. As a system I am attached to the soul of the host I choose, so I can read his/her thoughts. But don't worry too much. Right now this is only a temporary link.]
-Okay… - I responded a little insecure.
[Let's continue. A host is a dead soul of one of the three thousand billions worlds. His/her soul is connected to a system by a binding link. A host needs to travel to different worlds and complete the missions that their system sends. When these missions are finished then they will be rewarded. You will do this kind of job too.]
-And if I really don't want to?
[Well, we can terminate the contract. But you will lose your value and will be obliterated. Do you wish to end the binding? yes/no.]
-NO!
[Are you sure? Think well because this decision is not changeable later.]
-Yes I'm sure!! I don't want to shatter in thousand pieces!!!
[Incorrect. It will be in billions off particles host.]
-That's not the point!! I accept! Hurry and formalize the contract!
[Okay. Terminating (Temporary) binding:]
[1%... 21%... 46%... 88%... 100%]
[Ding! Result: (Temporary) binding terminated]
[Ding!Starting a (Real) binding:]
[12%... 37%... 66%... 99%... 100%]
[Ding! Result: (Real) binding success.]
Finally I got rid of the accumulated stress that my body had knowing that my soul could dissipate into small pieces. The contract was already signed and sealed.
-Then, what?
[First of all, we will go to differents worlds. You will posses the bodies of the seconds females leads that died tragically or lived a miserable life. Since they want a second chance but as deads souls without a system and with regrets, they can't reincarnate, you will go on their bodies sometime before all went wrong and fulfill their wishes. They will be with you in the mission. They will be in the body, but they will only see and feel what you feel. Nothing more. They don't have the authority to make any sound or to regain control. Once you have accomplished their wishes, they will reincarnate and you will be rewarded. Sometimes there will be other missions but for now you don't have the authority to know.]
-Why they have a chance to reincarnate but me have none? You told me I was going to be completely eliminated. Without second chances.
[When a person is picked by a system, her soul changes. Temporary binding included. So even if they take the soup of oblivion, it doesn't help. They will remember everything clearly so they will be excluded by the world. They will be treated as a virus. The only chance a person who has system to reincarnate is to collect certain number of World spirit points. Then they can have one wish granted by the creator God. ]
-Why only after you recollect the points your wish will be granted?
[The creator God is a very busy existence. That rule was created for his convenience.]
-This sounds like a difficult job… - I said with a depressed voice.
[Well, it's a dangerous job with a lot of new employees every so often.]
-Why so many new people?
[They didn't accomplished their missions so the superiors and their system exploded them.]
"What!"
[Don't fret so much now and listen. Fortunately for you, the first world don't have that punishment. In case of failure only you won't gain any rewards. You could say that, the reason for this is to acclimatize newbies to their new job.]
-Thanks, this helps so much. - I said with a marked sarcasm in the voice.
[Better than nothing.]
-Why can't we live if we fail the mission?
[Before I said that the soul is changed and as result of this they will be excluded in whatever world they choose to live. This means that without their system, they don't have the accreditation to reside in there. As their soul is changed, they will create many errors in the world so there will be a need to exterminate them. All of these worlds need stability. You understand now? ]
-Yeah… I don't like at all how you resolve the subject but I did understand.
[Well let's continue with our business. Requesting for newbie pack… Receiving...]
[1%...4%...25%...60%...100%]
[Newbie pack received. Please open it.]
"How…" Then a transparent futuristic game window appeared in front of me. In it, I could see white stylized letters with the message of 'Touch the icon for opening' and a little image of a birthday present. Intrigued, I touched it. A bright light enveloped the window and few seconds later new messages were shown.
-'Gentle fragrance of peonies - low: With this skill your body will have a natural soft floral fragrance in your body. Not only will this make you smell really good, it has normally a calm effect for the people that surround you. With medium and high level, new related abilities.'
-'25 Skill spirit points'
-'1 Key'
[You are lucky. 1 key in the newbie package… It's really a great thing for you. The keys are very scarce but could take your punishment for you. It's like having another life.]
"Wow, even I am impressed. Normally I am not this lucky."
[I'm impressed too. The skill spirit points can be used to upgrade your skills or get some others. There are a vast catalog in our store.]
[This is your status as now, host.]
The transparent window appeared again.
-------------------------------------------------------
Name: Sarah
System: αM119
Skill Spirit points: 25
World Spirit points → Wish: 0 (1.000.000)
????: 0
Keys: 1
Skills:
*'Gentle fragrance of peonies - low'
-------------------------------------------------------
-Why are there question marks in my status?
[You don't have authority to know. Do you want to see other skills that you can acquire?]
-Of course!
[Ding! Store opened.]
------------------------------------------------------
Skills that you can buy:
*Beautiful voice - low → 20sp
*Enhance memory - low → 20sp
*Martial arts - low → 25sp
...
------------------------------------------------------
-Done.- After reading many and varied skills I finally opted for one of them. One that I thought will be necessary from now on.
-'Martial arts - low: With this skill in low level you will gain self-defense moves to protect yourself. You can use the strength of your opponents in your favor. Upgrade to obtain new related abilities'.
I chose this one.
I pressed the button for purchase and acquired my new and spected self-protection method. I was happy that I could buy it even before starting my tasks. In a new world where I don't know the dangers that can threaten me, it was great to be able to protect myself. So happy I was that I wanted to do one of those happy dances that other people do, but my body felt heavy. Now that I noticed not only is that my body seems to weigh a few extra pounds but that it looked like super transparent. "It's because I'm dead now? It's a new experience but I will appreciate it more if my body was less heavy"
[It's because a soul normally is quite weak and traveling through space and time hurts it. The world spirits points are used in part to strengthen the soul of space travelers. The other part is used to control how many world did you went or their difficulty. Change made. Confirm the new status.]
The new skill appeared, so everything went well. My status was all right.
-Anything else I should know before leaving?
[Yes. Your soul is extremely weak and upon reaching our destination and receiving information from the world, you will receive a severe headache and even fever. If you do not die anytime soon, your soul will become stronger and therefore the effect of traveling as well as receiving the story will decrease in intensity.]
-Okay. Alphy, that doesn't seem so cool to me.
[It is impossible to change that for now so hold on. The last thing you have to keep in mind is that you can't do much OOC, because then you will be rejected by the world as an existence that was creating errors. Being rejected will mean failing the mission and therefore your death if appropriate. In other words, if you don't have keys, your existence is no longer necessary.]
[Ready? If so, we can start with the first world.]
-Wait! Can't you tell me anything about the world I'm going to visit? I'm so nervous that I swear that my stomach is playing tricks on me.
[Let me read my manual to see if I can do this for you.]
While Alphy checked if he could advance some information, I focused on observing the space I was in. He had told me it was his personal space but there was nothing here. A room with all the walls as well as the ceiling and the floor of white color. Without furniture of any kind. You could say that it was an empty and sad space to spend a lot of time.
[Here it is. Yes, I can tell you. Your first trip will be to a modern world, similar to yours, without vampires, cultivators, demons or another magical race. As I said before, the first world is to acclimatize to doing tasks so it cannot differ much. This makes the transition easier since you can focus on the wishes more than the world around you. As you are my first host, there are still things that I had not checked by nerves. Now, are you ready?]
-Yes.- As I said that, my eyelids became heavier and heavier, until they closed completely. An unexpected sensation of fall seized me and then nothing.