A robotic human-like voice spoke in the deep consciousness of Brian.
"So, it has been a day already." His words can only be heard by himself and the strange phenomenon inside his head.
"System, why were you so silent through the whole ordeal. Maybe you are really the Amazingly Useless System."
"But your daddy was going to die. Can you let your daddy die in front of you?"
Brian has lost all his senses except the ability to think, so he has all the time to make fun of the other voice that was thinking with him.
Happy he succeeded in making fun of the System, he did not say anything anymore for quite a while.
The concept of time was difficult to perceive when the only working in your body is the mind. Thankfully, the System has given him some kind of indication that a new day has already come.
'Maybe Asti finished his business.' Brian tried to move his limbs to no avail. He already got used to the feeling of helplessness of a dead body. Not to mention, this state of his is much better compared to his previous body as Bryan where it was slowly killing itself with alcohol and sleepless nights.
He finally has the moment to properly reflect on what happened during the whole day, and maybe even his life as a loser gambler. His state of being out of the body experience was the perfect time to plan on what to do after he wakes up. If he wakes up at all.
"I still don't understand what's the use of the reward given for having my life intact."
"I can also do it with my own eye, so what's the point?" Brian replied with a mocking tone.
"What!? My mother's favorite tea set is worth 800k!?"
Brian could not refute the words of the System. He recalled the prized possession his parents own which he thought was just simply antiques. From a simple dinner plate to furniture of the house, he never sold them for more than a thousand dollars apiece.
'Not only did I sell the memories my parents left me, but I sold them for an extremely cheap price. Maybe that is why the pawnshop owner gladly gave me a 10% increase in supposedly "market price" easily. I thought he was giving me good favors because I was a regular customer.'
His memories as Bryan, especially during his gambling years, were filled with nothing but regret. He really wants to smack his head to oblivion just to have a chance to forget all of this. Although in the end, he decided not to because it would be a great learning experience for his new life.
"System, how do I use the Appraisal skill?"
"Still useless even up to this moment."
'This damn system!' Brian holds back his refutes for the meantime and just cursed in the consciousness of his consciousness.
A man does not simply go to the war without his weapons. So in this war of words, he did not attempt to go all out against the System since it has the upper hand for the current situation. He was already satisfied from annoying the System a while ago which is why it was pointless to continue and give the victory to the annoying voice.
However, being stuck in this state was really boring for Brian. With no concept of day or time, he does not truly know when all of this will end.
"Asti warned that I would be gambling with life and death at this point. There are no signs of it happening."
'Huh?' A question mark popped out of Brian's head. At the same time, the whole place seems to have experienced a magnitude ten earthquake despite not knowing whether there was ground or not. Along with it, his body or to be exact, his consciousness has been shaken to its core until a screeching pain was felt throughout his whole being.
He groaned loudly until his mouth cannot produce any sound anymore. The sudden pain surprised Brian, not in a pleasant way. It was a drastic change from feeling nothing at all to feeling all pain imaginable possible. He can imagine himself bleeding from every hole in his body. It came to the point that he can barely think.
An attack that seems to be directed to his soul, he never experienced this kind of pain from both of his lives. Even being bitten by hundred beasts of different sizes was not as painful as what he is feeling right now. This unexpected assault from an unknown enemy put an end to any rationale left in Brian.
"System! Do something!!!" With no one to rely upon, he asked the only thing present in the scene right now.
Brian might be undergoing an unbearable ordeal, yet it does not take an elementary student to conclude that the pain being relayed is related to the words of Asti. He was currently flipping the coin between life and death. And from the looks of it, the coin will land on the side of death.
If he does not do anything, forget about living with his daughter peacefully. Brian knows this very well, yet he cannot do anything.
Brian has no more room to care about the voice ringing inside his head anymore. He was already busy trying to stay awake.
"…"
Brian used the last remaining energy he had to understand whatever the System was saying. But the only part he was able to hear was the last sentence.
"…Do it"
Those were the last words he heard before finally succumbing to sleep. It was difficult to imagine a life-threatening situation just happened with the deafening silence that occurred right after it.
…
Brian had a weird dream where he was slowly walking forwards in an unending road pointing towards nowhere. Seconds, days, years seem to have passed by with only green pastures in his sight. However, he never took a break or become tired at all when his feet move step by step.
After what seems to be forever, he finally saw something different across the horizon. It was an enigma of someone standing still between two heaven reaching pillars.
When he was closed enough to observe the enigma closely, he noticed it has the enigma was has a humanoid figure. A meter closer and Brian concluded that it was a healthy slender body that can only be possible for a woman who is conscious of her health. However, her face was covered by black fog which made her beauty a mystery.
Being face to face with the enigma, he did not understand the woman in question although he can clearly hear words coming from her. Brian only instinctively took something from his non-existent pocket before the woman finally stopped talking.
She appeared to be shocked when he showed him the thing he took out… But he was not able to see more of it because right after, he woke up from the dream.