[—Please exercise caution and prepare for an attack.]
"Whoa! Some strange symbols just appeared!"
Kayden was spooked when the bright light from the orb diminished and was replaced by blue cryptic letters. In his head, he could hear an unfamiliar, robotic female voice. In his panic, he threw the shattered pieces of the now broken orb, the shards scattering across the floor.
"Prepare for an attack? This is the Adventurer's Guild! Who would possibly want to try something here?"
[...]
The voice in his head didn't respond, which almost made him think that he was hallucinating. However, Kayden had a very firm belief that he wasn't crazy.
"Hello? You're a 'System', right? I heard that you could help me grow more powerful!" He waved at the air and was surprised to see his hand go straight through the symbols.
[Adjusting language…]
[Affirmative.]
[May the user tell me his name?]
"Oh, my name's Kayden," He replied in a heartbeat, happy that he got a response. "What's yours?"
[User may refer to me as the System]
[May the user fill me in on the details of what happened?]
"What do you mean?"
[What happened before I appeared before you.]
"Ah! You mean you don't know? I thought that he would have filled you in. Sigh, you can't trust that God to do anything…" At this point, Kayden relaxed and placed his hands beneath his head.
"Basically, I found this spell orb from a museum, and this orb is apparently some special inheritance of the God of Thieves. I had just activated it when you suddenly appeared."
[God of Thieves?]
"Yeah! He also appeared in my dreams and told me about you! That you're able to make me stronger!"
The voice paused for a few seconds, before resuming,
[Is User perhaps an Edenian? Meaning that you were born in this world.]
"That's a strange question, where else would I be born?" The System's words left him slightly confused, but he paid it no heed.
"Anyway, how exactly can you help me grow stronger? Are you perhaps some kind of talking encyclopedia?"
That was Kayden's first guess at what the power the System held for him. After all, an incorporeal voice could at most give him advice on things.
[I have a variety of useful functions. Let me show you.]
[Requesting access to display user's stat page.]
"Hmm…? What's a 'stat' page?"
When the System didn't respond even after a while, he finally muttered,
"Um… sure?"
[Displaying User stat page…]
"Ah!"
Name: Kayden
Title: Pest of Babylon
Race: Human
Age: 17
Level: 12
Health: 73/160
Mana: 94/94
Job(s): Thief
Two large holographic rectangles appeared right in Kayden's eyes, obstructing his eyes from everything else. He didn't understand some things that were displayed on the screen that he was focusing on, but one detail caught his attention.
"Pest of Babylon? That's my title? Why is that my title?" He complained. However, something strange happened in the next moment.
"Hmm? Oh! You're the old man that the brat caught! But you're not old… Wait a second…"
Kayden heard a shift in tone from the System's voice. Before it was robotic and dull, like how he would imagine a golem would speak, but now there were actual emotions that he could sense from the way the System spoke. It wasn't very obvious, but he swore he could hear a hint of surprise in the voice.
He also noticed that the voice didn't come with a string of text or symbols like it had earlier.
"This…? I'm no longer censored?" Kayden heard frantic muttering in his ear, "but Gaia... Hmm… is it because he's an Edenian?"
While puzzled, he left the System to its non-stop muttering and looked at the second holographic rectangle. He supposed he couldn't help to understand what the voice said since it was related to a God.
Strength: D
Agility: B-
Endurance: C
Mana: D--
Intelligence: C
Wisdom: D-
Charisma: C++
Luck: C (B)
"Are these my parameters? It looks similar to the grading system that the Adventurer's Guild uses…"
"Is it?" It seems that the System had finally broken out of her trance-like muttering.
"Oh, you don't know? The Adventurer's Guild came up with some parameters system. Physical Prowess, Magical Prowess, Decision Making, and Niche," he explained. He had experience explaining these details before to rookies so doing so again for the System didn't particularly trouble him.
"You see, they needed some way to quantify an adventurer's strengths and weaknesses. This allows them to assign rankings to adventurers."
"Oh? Sounds a lot simpler than this system Gaia came up with."
"…Who's that? Anyway, the four categories are known as an adventurer's PMDN," Kayden gave a triumphant grin. "For your information, my Niche is a B despite my adventurer's rank being C."
"Oh? What about the others?"
"COUGH! Moving on,".
"Wait, hold on! Is it C/D/D/B?"
"What? How'd you know—Oh, you probably guessed it from the parameters"
The system laughed, before proposing,
"Hey, how about we change the stat page to fit the PMDN thing?"
"Why? Isn't the current one more accurate to my statistics?"
"PMDN is easier to say, and it makes it less cluttered. Besides, it's very tough work to conjure these screens, you know? That annoying brat kept going 'Ohhhh System~' and keeps calling up the stat page just to admire his stats! You don't know how many times I just wanted to curse him to death!"
Kayden gulped. "Uh—Noted." He was not very eager to get cursed. One of his spells involved cursing an enemy and their reactions paint a very tragic picture to him if he were to be on the receiving end.
"Yeah! It's super annoying! It's like having to type each word out on a keyboard every time he calls for it and then formatting everything over and over. It's better for you that I have less to type, so you better not do the same!"
"What's a keyboard—?" A loud growl that came from his stomach interrupted his sentence. "Never mind, we've been talking here for too long, we can talk over breakfast."
"Okay!
With the very chatty voice in tow, Kayden headed out to start his day.
***
A man dressed in a sparkly-clean, white lab coat was staring out into open space. He was in a room filled with potions of all kinds. They were all his creations.
Stacked to the brim on multiple shelves were short, glass bottles half-filled with liquids of various bright colors. He fiddled with the contraption that hung around his neck, a gas mask with two knobs on it that could be rotated and adjusted to make breathing easier.
Click!
Each time he rotated a knob, it makes a clicking sound.
Click!
"Ah…" The man's green eyes remained unmoving, looking out to who knows where. "Peace and quiet…"
Ting-a-ling!
"—it's a shame you can't eat food. Cheese is like, the best thing in the world!"
'Customers?'
The man snapped out of his daze and stood up. "Welcome to Amon's Alchemy Supplies. What can I do for you?"
"Ayy! Amon! Can I get some healing potions? A box of six will do."
The man that had come in was Kayden. Amon recognized him, or at least, anyone within the adventuring circle of Dragonsteel city would recognize the disciple of an A-ranked adventurer.
"Coming right up. Just give me a second. Is the person with you ordering—"
Amon looked around his shop and failed to notice anybody else besides the two of them.
'Wasn't he just talking to someone? I could swear he was in a conversation.'
Kayden furrowed his brow. "What's wrong?"
"Um…who were you talking to just now?
"Hmm? Oh, the System? You should introduce yourself!"
Amon was very confused.
"Don't you already know who I am? It's in the shop's name, Amon."
"What? Not you. The System! Eh? You can't speak? Never mind then."
Amon was baffled but he still had a job to do and acted professionally. He took out a wooden crate from a cupboard behind him and placed it on the counter. The red liquid within the six small bottles sloshed at it landed on the counter with a thud.
"Five silver. And don't try to give me rocks this time. I have no wish to talk to that master of yours."
Kayden looked aggrieved. "I haven't done that since I was twelve! I'm a changed man."
He took out exactly five silver and placed them gingerly on the counter.
"Goodbye, my sweet babies." He whispered.
Amon raised his eyebrow but didn't say anything. After collecting the money, he took out another bottle from a shelf beside him. It was a taller glass bottle than the potions of healing and there was a clear liquid inside that had a tinge of blue.
"Here, treat this as a gift from me."
"What?" Kayden took the bottle from Amon's hands.
'Since when has he been so kind?'
He was carefully inspecting it when a blue screen popped up.
Name: Potion of Soothing
Item Type: Consumable
Description: When drunk, calms intense emotions. It may also clear negative statuses such as Charmed, Frightened, and Fatigue.
"That right there is a potion of Soothing. Look I get it." Amon sat down on his seat and spoke in a comforting voice,
"Adventurers are always braving all sorts of dangers for a multitude of reasons. Since I used to be one myself, I know that sometimes, the dangers we have to constantly face place immense pressure on us. Stress, trauma, some even go crazy." He waved around his hand, gesturing to the entire shop.
"You see, stress got a hold of me too. That's why I have white hair at my age, and that's why I opened up a shop instead, to get away from that stressful lifestyle. Sometimes, life gets the better of us, and we must always make sure to care for our mental state." Amon pat Kayden on the shoulder. "I feel you, bro."
"…Are you calling me crazy?"
Kayden grabbed Amon's hand and threw it off him. When he did so, another screen popped up. What he saw confused him.
Name: Amon Gregory
Title: Greg, the drug dealer
Level: 24
Job(s): Poison Mage, Alchemist
"Greg? Drug dealer?"
Amon's eyes opened wide.
"You know my other identity! I see. You're here for my new concoction! Ah, forgive me for not noticing earlier," he crouched and took out a small bag from under the counter. "No wonder you keep speaking to yourself, you must be terribly stressed. Don't worry, this will you feel much better!"
Kayden could see the mania in the alchemist's eyes. He had a premonition that a terrible misunderstanding was about to occur, and he was going to put a stop to it.
"U-uh, sir. If I may—"
"Please call me Amon. Now, this creation is about three times more potent than the previous ones. Make sure to use this somewhere quiet, so you won't disturb the public. Inhaling this stuff can knock you out cold."
"Look, Amon, I didn't come here to buy drugs," Kayden rejected firmly.
"Hmm?" Amon slapped his forehead. "Ah! Of course! Don't worry, the secret's safe with me, your master will probably get angry if she finds out. I have never disclosed any deals that I and my customers have made."
Amon rubbed his palms together. "Now then, let's talk about the price."
"Hahahahahaha—"
Kayden could hear the high-pitched laughter of the System filling his ears, mocking him. The situation had gone out of control, and the laughter certainly wasn't helping.
"STOP LAUGHING—"
"This isn't a laughing matter, my good customer. It's really fifty gold a bag. The materials I used cost quite a bit and there's a processing fee as well. Tell you what, I'll give you a free sample—"
"Not you! Screw it, I'm leaving!" Kayden grabbed the crate of potions and ran out of the store as fast as his legs could carry him. He couldn't bear for the misunderstanding to continue further and could only curse the System for being the cause.
"Wait!" Amon reached out his hand to grab the customer only for him to grab air.
Kayden slammed the door behind him, attracting the few people outside the store. As soon as he made it out, however, he accidentally knocked into someone.
"OW!"
"Sorry!"
And then he sprinted towards the Adventurer's Guild.
"Sigh, this new medicinal product can cure traumas, relieve stress, and even fortify the mind! Is the cost truly too high?"
Amon shook his head and placed the Powder of Mind-Cleansing back behind the counter.
Ting a ling!
'Another customer?'
"—so rude. He should watch where he's going."
Amon looked at the newcomer and smiled.
"Welcome to Amon's Alchemy Supplies. What can I do for you?"
A cat beastperson girl sporting a maid outfit with a short skirt walked up to him. Her soft, brown eyes were filled with worry as her hands slammed on the table. One look was all it took for Amon to know that the maid was in a rush.
"Oh, you're one of the maids that came yesterday to pick up a package. Was there something wrong?"
"Yes!" she cried, "Wait, no! Not that! My master needs a Potion of Soothing right now!"
"Another person has gone crazy? Okay, one potion coming right up."