nudge by the girl beside him, Gene came back to his senses from being dumbfounded by the ridiculous message in front of him.
looking at her 'boyfriend' that came back from his dazed state, the purple eyed girl leaned on Gene and ask gently.
"what happened my darling? are you sick? you look pale, want me to take care of you~"
"ah, n-no.. it's alright. i just think of something nice h-hehe.." Gene hurriedly explained.
the girl look at his eyes straightforwardly, trying to determine if his telling the truth or not.
looking at his "girlfriend that he didn't even know her name, Gene smiled forcibly and said. " i-i thought of a song and wants to play a guitar right now. but i don't have it now. so i'll just sing it later. " Gene lamely explained.
"woah! you can play guitar? but, from what i remember you don't have talent in playing musical instruments because you said it yourself. and besides, you are tone deaf. do you remember when you tried a surprise serenade when you are still courting me? it didn't work right?." she said while giggling.
"well hehe.. not anymore, i can play guitar like a pro, want to hear it?" Gene insist.
his girlfriend tilted her head to the side, hesitating. three months ago, Gene sang in front of her room to prove his sincerity for her. but instead, her roommates beat him with their pillows and slippers. not only that, her dorm mates that lives from other rooms went out of their own room running and gave him a hit or two while cursing.
instead of getting angry or embarrassed, she laughed so hard as she watched Gene getting beaten up while being chased outside the girl's dorm. seriously, there is a rule that boys can't go to the girls dorm if there are no important things to do or urgent reasons.
she remembered that his reason that day he went to look for her at her dorm is to gave back her books that he borrowed a few days ago. but he started to sing in front of her door instead of knocking.
it is a romantic thing for a lady to hear her suitor sing a song for her, but the catch is the singer mustn't be out of tune and know what kind of song he is singing.
imagine a soft and heart warming love song transformed into a heroic shout, full of spirit marching song and sing it into a girls' dorm at 9 o'clock in the evening where most of the girls are resting, relaxing, or doing their homeworks. that boy is really asking for a beating.
she looked at Gene and said. "well, you can do that later my darling~ what about we get our lunch since we are in the cafeteria? my treat. "
"well, alright." nodding his head while looking regretful outside, but inside he sighed in relief.
"so darling, what food do you like? do you want a long hotdog with cheese, or a plate of fresh peach and juicy melon?" she asked coquettishly as she gave him a seductive wink.
"cough, i-i'm not that hungry. maybe a glass of cold juice please." Gene answered as he gulped down his saliva. 'i need to focus. focus.. focus..'
"hmf.. i insist, you need to eat mote nutritious food from now on~~ do you know why?" she lightly said as she bend her body and hugged her bosom to make it more prominent. of course she faced it in from of Gene. making his blood boil.
"a-alright i'll eat whatever you want me to eat.. so, go now my b-beauty. " Gene stuttered as he hold her arm and lightly push her away from him. Gene slowly exhaled. feeling his little brother pulsing from activity. he moved his chair closer to the table to cover his lower body.
she smile and stood up. she walked towards the counter and choose some food for Gene and herself.
while her girlfriend is busy buying lunch. Gene forcibly focused his attention into the dialog box in front of him and pondered.
"ehem, system start." Gene muttered in a low voice
"...."
no response.
"hmm.. system ini..tiate? "
"...."
"system on.. "
"...."
"open sesame.. "
"abra kadabra.. "
"system.. open? "
"...."
Gene scratch his head, how in the world this thing works?
'do i need to shout? this system.. it is really broken isn't it? '
Gene felt absurd. his farming system is not only a non combat type system, it is also broken. he really feel cheated.
'where is the martial system?
where is the wizard system? mage or sorcerer system? anyone?
demon path system? whereeeeeee???
i don't mind if it is an alchemy system, because you can eat bulks of overpowered pills, medication elixirs or a once in a millennium; you can only chance an encounter "divine herbs" to make you stronger.'
"but a broken farming system.. what a goodluck." Gene muttered and bitterly smiled.
"at least i have a girlfriend hehe, it's just i don't know her name, but if i ask her i'm sure she'll get suspicious and make her mad. just seeing her 'flaming fist' a few minutes ago i'm sure my bones would increase in numbers if that hit me." as a single in his previous life. computer softwares and hardware components are his bestfriend whenever he is alone. as a man that made four attempts to free himself from the clutches of the friend zone domain, he failed four times.
first is for her childhood bestfriend. he's still 14 years old that day and he is full of hope to get a girlfriend. looking envious at his seatmates surrounding him that have girlfriends; he risk his friendship and confess to his best friend only to found out that she already had a girlfriend.
then, three consecutive failure left his confidence broke in pieces. feeling sad, he ask his father some advice.
when Gene finished telling his story to his father he stared at him intently and wait for his advice. his father stared at him for a few seconds and said. "son, there are many interesting things you can do or learn other than having a girlfriend." then his father get a broken laptop and show it to gene and continued. "you can't force or rush yourself just because your friends or classmates had girlfriends. since you have the time to find a girlfriend then why don't you help me and learn to fix these things." then his father shove the broken laptop to Gene's arms and started to instruct him how to disassemble it to different parts. his need of advice from his father has long been forgotten.
he can't help it. his father in his previous world is a technician that specializes at computer, TV's, and other home appliances. after his father's 'fatherly' advice, he gradually liked this kind of work.
after graduating of his IT course at 21. he went to a vocational school and there, he took some courses to enhance more of his knowledge to troubleshoot or fix home appliances like his dad.
being an intern to a call center company as a technician for six months, Gene rented an apartment close by for travel time efficiency.
although being an IT and a person who used to be working or studying alone. Gene is unlike some geeks that choose to shut themselves indoors, or liked being alone. he likes to play guitar and always on adventure with his old pals since childhood. every weekends he and his friends like to gather and talk some meaningless things, or discuss what is the latest online games you can find in the internet. sometimes they drink some light alcohol beverages when one of their bro need someone to talk to.
after Gene reminisce about his past, he looked at the transparent dialog box only to find the word changed to "Recovery 12%".
".... "
Gene sighed 'well, i'll just wait for it to start in its own.' he look to the surroundings and noticed a white haired girl wearing a black rimmed glasses glancing at him. when the girl realize that she has been caught looking she blushed, or that is what he thinks. gene frowned, maybe the previous gene know this smart looking girl so he waved his hands as he greet her.
"hehe, darling to think i just left you for more than a minute and now i just watched you waving your hands at other girls. darling are you two timing???? "
Gene almost choked by his own saliva. he silently cursed. damn, 'i just waved my hands at her because maybe she knows me.. " Gene is speechless.
but before Gene started to explain himself a sudden beep rang in his ears.
DING!
Unable to load self recovery. system's malfunction is 86% initiating safe mode.
Gene suddenly felt his entire body getting hot rapidly, his face is also turning red instantly.
system detected that the host's core consciousness and physique is 76% complete. attempting core and body realignment.
boom!
Gene's sight blurred, his sensed his body became several times heavy, his arm and feet feels like it is made of lead. and from his head down to his spine has been suddenly jolted by an excruciating pain like someone stabbed his head and body by a knife countless of times.
"ahhhh!!!" Gene let out a scream while grasping his head. he feels his consciousness fading away as his body slumped on the floor.
"Gene!" with a scream, hannah grasp gene's head before it hits the floor. then she hugged gene that looked like he passed out because of some kind of pain. she immediately hugged him and looked at his pained filled face. she felt pain in her chest. " gene what happened to you? wake up please.." she gently tapped his face but obviously he is passed out.
"student what happened to him? let me help you bring him to the infirmary. " a concerned student walked closer and offered his help to bring Gene to the infirmary but suddenly hannah looked at him with a gaze filled with aggressiveness and violence. the student stepped back instinctively because of fear brought by that purplish glowing eyes.
"no need. i will bring my boyfriend myself." hannah effortlessly stood up as she carried Gene while running outside the cafeteria.
like holding a weightless baggage, hannah run through the hallway. many students curiously looked at her wondering what happened to the male student that she is princess carrying while dodging the students along the hallway."
****
deep within gene's consciousness. he is floating in a vast white space while countless broken fragments of mirror-like objects floating aimlessly in his surroundings.
Gene is confused. he really didn't know what is happening right now. he felt like he is in some kind of a dream.
"what is this place?"
"am i dead? "
"anybody there!? "
Gene shouted three times when a blob of light appeared instantly in front, startling him. Gene wanted to move away but he realize he is suspended in the air. he could only helplessly wave his hands like a swimmer using backstroke, but its obvious that it is useless.
(Host, you have to calm down. i didn't mean any harm.)
".. damn you, you've just impale me to death and now you're saying you meant no fucking harm!? no shit!"
(Well, i apologize for that unfortunate thing to happen as that is purely an accident. but you know it is also a fortune.)
"you killed me and you called this a fortune? tell me, how is it a fortune? please enlighten me." Gene sneered.
(the world where you come from will experience an calamity where your race will strive to survive. and i am sure 90% of the human population will perish because of that calamity. )
Gene laugh, he didn't believe what the blob of light said. he joked. " then let me guess, that calamity is because of some extraterrestrial being that eyeing the earth,. am i right? "
(.. no, you humans made that calamity yourselves.)
"give me evidence if my precious world is facing a calamity."
(.. alright.)
the blob of light extends a silk like tendrils and slowly moved closer to Gene. it attached to his index finger and with a light jolt of electricity, Gene' vision blurred and the surroundings change into a familiar place. his apartment. he tried to walked but he found he still floating. he looked around and a sudden realization occurred to him, "is this an illusion!?" he exclaimed.
he looked at his bed and found himself sleeping on it. "this is me? wait. system, is this a replay of what happened before you killed me?
(yes, before i accidentally land on your body, and transmigrated in this parallel planet earth.) the system said.
Gene huffed, and continue to watch his past self talking to his phone.
the scene continued to play when a transparent crystal stabbed him in the chest. watching this scene. Gene felt his chest tighten. "god its a bullseye i'm telling you."
a few minutes after the scene where Gene died. an earth shattering explosion suddenly occurred. it made Gene who is floating in the air tremble in shock. he looked at the rising 'mushroom' of fire and greenish smoke, and conclude a shocking realization.
"that's a nuclear bomb! what the fuck is going on!?" Gene screamed his eyes are tearing uncontrollably. shock, anxiousness, fear, and confusion struck Gene hard. making his mind go blank and chest tighten. "that is the direction where my hometown is. my mom.. dad.. " choking in tears, Gene clenched his fist. before he utter another word, he watched a strong blinding light came from the transparent crystal that embedded inside dead Gene's body. it let out a "hum" sound, and slowly a four to five meter long space crack appeared in the air. it abruptly pulled the body of Gene inside. then it gradually disappeared. the scene turned back into the white space again.
(host, your world entered a world war. a very large terrorist organization grasped a terrifying virus that makes the victim turn into a cannibalistic creature. that nuclear bomb that you witnessed is a virus carrier bomb where it spread the virus into the air for 10 kilometer radius. when someone inhale even a very tiny portion of it, it would first destroy the immune system. then attacking the brain. making them a vicious, mindless monsters.) explained by the system.
Gene gritted his teeth. he didn't expect that his previous world suffer a; calamity, he's really worried of his family. he looked at system and asked"system, can you bring me back? "
(.. that, host is almost impossible. i'm sorry.)
"why? then how the hell did we get here!? does this world far from earth? by how much?) Gene asked again agitatedly.
(.. even if i told you, its still impossible to go back, because we are in a different universe.)
" what!?" Gene opened his eyes wide and stared at the blob of light. he felt confused and incredulous. 'where the hell am i!?'
(host, you have to be strong. your situation here is the most important problem you have to face. because this world is also full of peril and challenges. this world is also facing a possibility of an imminent destruction. you have to make yourself stronger.) said the system.
".... " Gene is utterly speechless.
two worlds, both facing a calamity. " what the hell! " Gene cried.
Gene sighed, he calmed himself and said. "i want to make myself stronger and i also wanted to go back to my old world. can you please help me? "
(of course host. i, the farming system will help you make yourself strong and powerful.) the system proudly claimed.
"nice! so system, can you tell me now how to get out of here and practice some martial arts? " Gene excitedly ask. this is the moment he will become a superhuman so he looked eagerly at the blob of light called system.
(well first of all, you have to absorb the scattered memories of the former owner of your body to complete your core consciousness and physique integration. )
Gene nodded and listened attentively.
(you see the mirror-like fragments that floating freely in this space? you have to take a deep breath and prepare yourself, because i will control all the fragments and integrate it to you.)
"well, it doesn't hurt right? "
(hmm..)
"it doesn't hurt right? system? " Gene repeat himself.
(initiating memory integration.)
whoosh!!!
countless fragment slowly move in a spiral motion and the center of it is Gene.
fragments to fragments turned into light particles and fuse into Gene's body. causing him to glow like a light bulb made of 100 watts.
seconds turns to minutes as times passed by. the vortex of memories became faster as it fused into Gene, and countless memories kept appearing in his mind. he felt familiar and strange at the same time.
"arrgghh.... ahhhh!!!!! " Gene felt a tremendous pressure inside his brain as he screamed painfully, he feels his head would explode any seconds if this memory integration doesn't stop.
(bear with it host, you need this memory to adjust easily into this world.) said the system.
"ahhh.. damn it! can't you filter the important memories and throw out the useless ones!? "
( i can do it but it is more plausible if you absorb all of the memories. maybe the other useless memories that you are talking right now will be useful in the future.)
".. ughh.. staring at the skirt of his female classmate for two hours, looking at the big bum of his aunt for a long period of time.. is considered useful? argh!! " clutching his head. many weird and perverted memories played in his mind.
(.. almost done my dear host!)
two minutes have passed and the vortex of memories has been fully integrated to Gene. Gene heave a deep sigh and close his eyes for a few minutes. after recollecting the memories. his heart skipped a beat, his eyes suddenly opened wide and he loudly cursed.
"fuck! this is world is also called earth, but almost ten times its size!? what the hell! "