Ivy was dressed in a futuristic suit, it was basically a robe and a tux combined, it was red and white the theme of the ball he is attending.
He slicked back his long gray hair that reached his olive blue eyes like bangs when hung down, his hair was usually parted in the middle like Jimin from BTS when it wasn't slathered in hair gel. Ivy was constantly moving his face, he had to act after all, and exercising his facial muscles makes it not hurt his face so much. One of Ivy's intrusive thoughts were "if the universe picked the best actor, I would be at the top."
Ivy did a quick scan, tidying up his suit before heading out of his room. The walls of the hallways were all projections of calming colors or landscaped all picked by the user to control. Unfortunately, Ivy didn't get to control his family's mansion, or the projections would be projecting flames and gruesome images, Ivy found that comforting.
Today was a ball, replicating the past but also having future themes. Ivy died in the year 2021, so when he got his first futuristic world it was an interesting discovery. Ivy didn't care anymore though, he had gotten so many worlds so different from the last it unfazed him. Nothing seemed to interest him anymore.
In this world, his family was quite rich and Ivy was lucky enough to have an uncaring family. Nothing traumatic happened this time, and he grew up peacefully. His family is the host in tonight's ball and Ivy had an inkling feeling it would be his last day in this world. Ivy learned to accept his fate as it comes, but in no way did Ivy like how he couldn't rebel. He could only wish for a day of freedom. A day where he wasn't stuck in a cage like a flightless bird with no power to control his life.
Ivy walked into the colorful ballroom, the light glowed illuminating the walls, ceiling, and floor. The lights floated on magnetic plates causing abstract designs to appear as the people all bickered about. Food and drinks were served in the sky, hovering to people while robots entertained with music and comedy.
Walking to the food bar Ivy snacked on something crunchy, nothing appitized Ivy much as he just enjoyed the texture of the crunch. He sipped on jelly juice that a robot server gave and quietly watched the people dance to music and talk loudly with their peers. He was a cannon fodder anyway, the middle child out of his twelve siblings, and was the most disliked due to him not looking anything like his family. What can you do though when the system doesn't change his original appearance, besides hiding his cat ears? Ivy laminated silently.
He was in a pretty dark corner, so no one noticed his presence, except one.
The person who noticed Ivy moved through the crowd like a snake would in its natural habitat, secretly coming behind the unnoticed prey they got ready for what seemed like an attack.
Ivy stiffened, he felt the perpetrator's presence behind him but only waited for what's to come. As expected, Ivy felt the pressure of a gun aimed at his back. Ivy played the guessing game as to whom it is this time that "betrayed" him, Ivy unknowingly looked for System Creampuff, knowing it's probably watching the interaction.
Deciding to take a peek as to who it is, he froze. Who is this? Ivy's never seen this person, it's impossible for one to be betrayed by a stranger and Ivy started to question if maybe this isn't his time to die, maybe it's just an unexpected plot twist. He thought that maybe the system decided to toy with him, it's not like this is the first time the system made something unexpected happened.
Ivy narrowed his eyes and spoke in irritation, "do you need something?" He frowned.
The more Ivy looked at the stranger the more he couldn't see their face, in fact, the stranger seemed to be all blurry as if unfocused. Ivy squinted his eyes as his brows locked together.
The person seemed frozen in time.
Ivy looked around and found the anomaly happened to everyone, everyone turned blurry and unfocused. As if they were an achievement in a game that couldn't be unlocked yet. The lights started to freeze in place as did the people, the music contorted before completely disappearing. The world was frozen in the moment.
Ivy felt everything to be odd like a dream, but he couldn't help the tremble of his body, and the increase in heart rate. He tried to keep down the feelings that we're trying to escape and to assess the situation.
"System Creampuff" Ivy called out reluctantly.
[ *BEEP* negative interference- ]
[ error found- ]
[ processing error- ]
[ error unknown- ]
[ *BEE- ]
The ball of smoke appeared with System Creampuff flouting in the air, continuously repeating those words sounding like a broken record player. Ivy's heart stirred with a sense of elation. His eyes misted with tranquility and unknown evil.
Ivy's hand trembled as he reached out to grab the system, to his utter shock, he held it in his hand. It's impossible to touch the system, but the error allowed him to do something he could only fantasize about. Ivy still felt this couldn't be real, he was in a sense of denial yet his heart flared with the thing that's grown inside him for thousands upon thousands of years of living. He unknowingly gulped. The seed of rage that was planted so long ago has grown into a whole jungle waiting to be broken out of its cage-like enclosure, and today Ivy felt cracks appear on its surface, ready to break at any moment.
He still wasn't sure yet, but its the first time an error ever accrued and Ivy knew this could be his only chance to freedom. He could kill the system with a simple crush of his fist, and he really wanted to do so, but he didn't know if he would be trapped in this time and wanted to start anew. Either way, any form of freedom Ivy would take whether it's in the form of death or not. Ivy thought hard, he didn't want to waste time. he clenched his fist with the system still in his palm and raised the thing that's caused his soul pain for 2,883 lives and if not for this error, an eternity, to his face. He clenched his teeth to the point of blood rolling down his gums and very reluctantly opened his jaw, taking a bite of the system. Ivy found it was rubbery and had no flavor, like eating a squishy tennis ball. He shuttered then tightly closed his eyes, before eating the system whole.
The system no longer repeated its annoying error alarms and instead, everything was quite calm. Ivy didn't know why exactly eating the system even crossed his mind, but at the moment it felt like a good option besides killing the system. Ivy had a high equanimity so all he did was calmly wait, hoping he won't be stuck in a frozen world.
Ivy walked around the ball, waiting for something if not anything, to happen. It didn't take long for something to occur, and Ivy's vision contorted the ballroom Ivy was in disappeared and a blank white space is what greeted Ivy.
Ivy was very familiar with this room, every time Ivy died this is where he would be brought, along with the explanation System Creampuff would give about the next world he would be brought into. Ivys face held a scowl but something utterly different from Ivy's imagination happened, a blue screen appeared in his view. He's seen something like this happened with the system, Ivy imagined it to be what kept him in his vicious cycle and Ivy was correct.
He messed around with the screen that projected what looked like a home screen on a computer, Ivy went to the search bar and looked up all his questions about systems. One thing Ivy knew was he hit the gold mine.
It turns out systems are usually artificially created with the sole purpose to move souls to complete missions in worlds. With each mission accomplished right, the system gets points, with a mission failure the points are deduced. With the points, they can buy a new world, get extra free time, buy anything they want in the price range, and even go up in ranks. Ivy never knew this and only became angrier, he had been completely milked by the system just for its greedy desires. Not only did he find that out, but also found he wasn't the only person to be fooled by System Creampuff, it actually had multiple hosts, Ivy being one in many, 385 to be exact. It seems since he ate the system, he got the system's capabilities to see such data. The hosts Creampuff had were sent to the cycle of reincarnation the moment Ivy ate the system. Who knows how many it had long before this. System Creampuff had a high rank, in fact, It was a great master system! Meaning the highest rank, and basically a retired system. Also an explanation as to why the system was such a sadist. Power caused you to relish in your inner desires.
Ivy shook his head before checking System Creampuffs points, it was in the corner of the screen and it...was a lot. So much in fact it couldn't fit half the screen, Ivy guessed it to be more than a trillion.
Ivy did not want to be a system, he did not want to fool poor souls like System Creampuff fooled him, so he decided to start fresh in a world like any other person with a normal life, and live as long as he can, then die. Although it seems he can't necessarily die since he's now basically a system, with immortal life. Ivy will think about that when it's necessary, but right now, it isn't.
His points continue to grow every second, the reason for that is he's the elder of lower systems, he's the boss now of the systems with lower ranks and he gets paid just by breathing. Ivy didn't care about it and decided to change the white space into his own space with what he wanted. He made the space smaller and added soft carpet, a table, a bed, a study, anything needed in a room. He felt much more comfortable now than seeing the white room that caused his heart to sink in fright.
Ivy comfortably relaxed on a recliner and bought a gourmet of his favorite delicious foods, relishing in seafood, Indian food, and Italian. It's been so long since he ate his favorites, unknowingly Ivy's tension melted a bit. After he ate he realized his cat ears never gone away, it seems it's really part of him now, Ivy didn't mind it, it reminded him of his hardships and a reminder never to forget his past.
Letting out a long breath Ivy decided to finally be reborn again, he spent a long time picking a new world to live his life comfortably. Finally, Ivy found the perfect world, it was old fashioned along with the clothes, and technology didn't exist, something Ivy liked, it had magic and monsters. The world's name was "Uprising" and Ivy made a person that'll have his name when born. He won't even need to hide his cat ears since having beast blood is normal for the family he will be born into. Ivy will be the Marquis's 4th son of Lana kingdom. Ivy didn't want to look at the world's future or anything of the sort, he wanted to live as time goes and enjoy the surprises.
With a small genuine smile on Ivy's pink lips, he left the space and into a life of freedom.