While ransacking the skeletons for what clothes they wore, William tried to mix and match whatever he thought would be best for this climate.
He chose a pair of baggy cotton pants that had four pockets sewn into them. Of course, the pockets had nothing but sand but they reminded him of cargo pants from Earth.
He also finds a crude, cotton long-sleeved shirt and a scarf to cover either his face or head with. Most of the skeletons wore something similar except for differences in symbols or designs. Also, everything was in a light khaki color.
Of course, people who wore traveling in the desert wouldn't be wearing dark or unreasonably heavy clothing. This was basic knowledge even for him who had only been to the desert once.
William had even found a small canteen filled with water. He didn't drink it yet as he didn't feel thirsty.
"Did this guy die recently? Then why are there only bones?" As a scientist with a keen eye and IQ that wasn't lacking, William always asked a lot of the right questions.
Based on common sense, a canteen of water should be long dry since it took an absurdly long time to become a skeleton. There was something wrong with this situation and William didn't want to be part of it.
All he took were the clothes that best fit his new, tall, and muscular body, and ran away. The only equipment it had was the canteen and a small dagger encased in a brown leather sheath.
He didn't know what he would face in this unknown land so it was best to be safe.
[Why didn't you take the sword? It's much stronger.]
One of the corpses did have a long sword but he didn't know how to use one.
"Even if I did know how to use one, it would still be idiotic in this situation,"
[Why?]
"First of all, It is not guaranteed that I will face danger large enough for a sword. Second, it's too heavy and who knows how long I need to walk to get to a city.
Third, if I face other people, the very existence of a sword may make me their potential enemy. Lastly, this isn't the body I'm used to. Wouldn't this be important for a trained sword user?"
William replied with easy-to-understand explanations that were coherent and logical. There was nothing the system could say except for [I understand.].
'F*ck! I really had to explain that to a goddamn system. Is its IQ that much lower than mine.' Willaim complained internally. To him, this was another form of punishment as he has always despised talking to people that are much dumber than he is.
[I heard that.]
"Can you just leave my thoughts alone?! I need my own safe and personal space." requested Williama as he didn't want a mechanical voice ringing in his head all the time. He didn't want to be a lunatic, not like he wasn't one already.
[No can do. I can always hear your monkey brain prattling on. It is the basic function of a system.]
"Basic function you say..." muttered Willliam as an idea started to form in his mind. He stopped walking any further in the direction he had randomly picked.
"Basic functions of a system huh. Based on all the novels and knowledge I have from Earth, one of the most common things that stems do is inform where their users are.
No matter if it's an ancient ruin or some deserted island, they know the exact position, no matter what. "
"Hehehe. Hey system, where is the closest inhabited, human settlement?" asked William. He was careful with the selection of his words as he still wasn't sure how "useless" his system is.
Is it the normal meaning where it doesn't help at all or that it can purposely sabotage him? He still wants even sure of the system could lie to him at any moment. To add to the suspicions, the system said it didn't know how ended up here but it also gave him a note from the person who did.
This is why he made sure to include some keywords such as 'inhabited' and 'human'.He didn't want to end up in some monster settlement or ghost town.
He could have added the word 'safe' to his location but he didn't as he wanted to test if the system could score him over. It is worth it to take a risk.
"It's not like I can I have anything to lose after dying once. The system can read my thoughts anyway so there's no hiding it from him either."
[ This is indeed a fundamental function of the system but it is very limited. The system was only equipped with knowledge about the name of this world and the location of one village.]
"Hmm.." Wiliam realized that this was indeed the bare minimum. He was okay with that as he just wanted to survive for now.
[The nearest village is a 2-hour walk to your left, which is east in this world. Good luck. I'm going to go take a nap. This system is still a baby.]
"A nap? You're a baby? Sh*t! This system is really useless." And with that, William found an invisible pressure released from his mind. He could tell if the system was listening in or not and right now, it wasn't.
"After I get to that village. it will probably be up to me. The basic functions of systems are very limited. This would be even worse for one that is designated as 'useless'." As he walked in the direction suggested by his dear system he was recalling all the material he had read on systems.
The basic function was basically just providing info on items and the world around them. There weren't many other things but stuff like status screens and inventory was common.
He couldn't check that right now as the system was napping but he would ask. Even if he hated systems, William would do what it takes to survive and maybe have a chance at freeing his planet from the overly righteous hero.
He wouldn't mind using the system and he would not mind getting stronger without one. He just wanted to be able to live. A feeling that he had never felt too vividly before his own death. How he does live doesn't matter much but he has his preferences.
...
A two-hour lonely walk in a place with endless sand was indeed gruesome, especially because of how it got everywhere. Couples with the sweat, Willaim's body felt unpleasant as he wanted to drench himself in a cold shower.
Some soap would also be appreciated.
"Oh, there it is!" exclaimed the red-haired guy as he could now visibly make out the figures of humans and some stone houses. He was approaching them with utmost caution. He had one hand clutching onto his headscarf while the other was ready to reach for the dagger whenever he needed to.
Of course, running away was also an option if no negotiations could be done.
PUCH! PUCH! PUCH!
He had gotten awfully close to the village when he saw two women approach him. Two women with decent faces and magnificent breasts made him want to stare at them all day.
"They have to be around G cup." he thought. Even though he was a scientist tucked in a lab, he also had a college and high school life where he was horny for gorgeous women. Someone really needed to bonk him in the head at the time for how many lecherous thoughts he would have daily.
However, what truly made him stare at them were the blood-soaked machetes they carried. They pointed the machete at him with one hand while holding don't their side of their touch skirts.
Skirts that had pockets sewed into them and were fitted for carrying more machetes.
William instantly realized that the noises he heard earlier were those machetes cutting some being up. What being they slaughtered, he did not know.
Before he could take the initiative to talk, they spoke out first.
"Unata pan log me mo!" shouted one of the women.
"Bulop unate me lodo?" asked the other row with a question look and tone.
This is when William knew that he had really been bent down and f*cked over!
"I don't know their language," said William as he sported a distraught expression on his face.
DING!
[Quest: Learn the Boingus Village Language
Description: The system forgot to download the local region's language. You have to somehow communicate with the Boingus village residents and learn it yourself.
Time Limit: None
Reward: Piece of Paper + 55 Useless Points ]