Meanwhile, Ajay read some novels about systems. Where else would he get some quality info? Sometimes stories were quite close to reality. Even if these weren't, he had a very good time reading. He felt that the writers were amazing because they made an entirely new and amazing world from scratch. He wanted to go live in each of their book worlds. There were many kinds of books like counterattack, development, assist, plane exchange, and space farming. His system wasn't anything like this so that's the reason he was becoming a research maniac.
This was the only way he could think of at the present. He felt the need to know more about the system so he could be at ease. If the system was some kind of a newbie, it would be better. Because in the books he read, the system which was sent was normally a rookie and the protagonist was its first host. He hoped it was the case with him too. That way he can make the system work for him more honestly, and then he would complete the missions efficiently. If Dhvani knew his thoughts, she would only say - Daydreaming.
The systems in the books were very cool. They gave many props and some systems turned into humans at the end. Now he knew that was impossible but still, he liked that kind of story. He also had his sister ask for copyrights of some books so they could make movies of these wonderful stories. He also read many rebirth stories without systems where the protagonists change their way of life with their future knowledge. But his favorite was the time travel one where the protagonists used their future knowledge and made things in their current world easy by introducing technology.
How wonderful were small things like toothpaste and soap in ancient times? And also the jewelry-making, cement, glass, and even food ideas were considered incredible in that world. It didn't mean that the ancients weren't intelligent. With just some ideas from the transmigrator, they developed rapidly. So he also joined the forums on these tropes. The conversation threads blew up his mind. Their theories almost guessed the truth like what happened to him in reality. He felt that he would be found out because the people over there had good psychoanalyzing skills.
He then remembered the magic room of the system mall. It was simply a mesmerizing experience. Even if he could not be enlightened there, standing there in the presence of swirling colors was enough for him. The colors captured your attention. No digital art could redo its existence. He could see them moving like air, flowing like water, staying still like earth, energized like fire, and living like the sky. The colors all showed the five elements and the combination of colors showed the relation between each element. This proved that everything is interlinked and nothing exists without everything. He felt even if he said stuff like this, people would think he was researching a book. Because he found many sketchy topics there. If all of that were real, this world would become chaotic.
He wanted to go there again so he did.
He called in his mind System Mall quietly.
And there was again, the no-sense elevator but he was bounced back by a barrier. He then realized that he needed skill points for exactly this reason. He then moved around in the mall. There were resting areas and he found them quite luxurious and comfortable. They felt fluffy and seemed like clouds. The person who designed them knew what a user wanted. They also had cloud functions. He could move sitting on them anywhere. His childhood dream was considered fulfilled now. But the advanced functions of this cloud required skill points and mall coins.
He read the functions intending to check out. He didn't want those functions at the moment. He was just surfing and browsing. The functions included therapeutic effects, change in cloud color, size, and shape, and the best one- taking it to the real world. But considering the geometric progression of points and coins needed for each of the options, it could be called nearly impossible. He gave himself a one percent chance of realizing it. Maybe this was how malls and shops attracted customers. Give a free sample of the product at a low price and then ask the customers to spend more money on upgrades.
Then he moved toward the section on advertising. There were many kinds of stuff like food, clothing, and also weird stuff like beast eggs, charms, funny curses, spaceships, medicines, adaptable to any environment coats, energy stones, ever-changing metals, and many which he didn't understand at all. The real thing was that even if he was tempted, he could do nothing because he was broke in the system world.
He moved on to the entertainment section. There were holographic games, movies, and even virtual robots. Finally, he moved to the Help counter. There were two cabins. System help and Mall help. He read the introductory pamphlets and saw his system's profile.
Name: System DI
Type: All Purpose
Level: 1
Mission Compatibility: Good
Host Status: Connected
System Info:
First time bound to a host. Moderate working speed.
For more credentials, spend 1000 skill points and 10000 mall coins.
At the same time, Dhvani was woken up by her communicator. It was the size of a smartphone but as she opened the server, it became a hologram. She could see the virtual chatroom. Because she was a level 1 user, she could only message on the server. There was a total of 15 members. And each user had a little tag explaining the system type. There was infrastructure, medical, education, trading, mall, counterattack- rebirth- transmigration- cannon fodder, music, guide, assistant, artist, skills, time travel, savior, wizard, and gourmet. She was in awe. There were only a few members online. And they all welcomed her.
[Dhvani joined the Gullible Systems Group]
[Arohi-Infra]: gOOD DAY dHVANI
[Sarang-gourmet]: Learn to capitalize correctly. Hello Dhvani.
[Kavyata-education]: hi
[Varutri-savior]: "deep bow" Dhvani
[Charchari-music]: Hellooooooooo
Dhvani was instantly fond of these people. People here were so good that you want to be friends with them. She found each of them was involved with their system specifics. Arohi seemed unable to use chatting software properly, maybe because she was from the previous era. Sarang should be a good chef who follows rules and he showed it in his conversation. And Kavyata being an education system seemed very lazy, totally opposite of what she should be expected to be. Varutri was very formal and Charchari was very musical. Her hello was still ringing in her ears.
[Dhvani- no specs]: Hi everyone. Nice to meet you.
[Charchaari-music]: Finally a 'no specs' system. You have much more fun than us.
[Kavyata-education]: seems like that
[Sarang-gourmet]: Now we are even and so we can form teams for championship games. I'm always left out by you unscrupulous guys.
[Arohi-infra]: Leave all that, you should meet others too when they come online, you will like them, and if you need any kind of help, you ask us
[Varutri-savior]: I'm leaving. Here's a war going on my side. will talk again after it ends. SEE YA.
[Dhvani-no specs]: War?
[Charchari-music]: You should see the number of medicine boxes she buys from Sari. Sari is a medical system. You will find it normal after a few days.
[Dhvani-no specs]: Where can I find the exchange terminal here?
[Kavyata-education]: You should ask the moderator. They aren't online now. They will message you later, don't worry.
[Arohi and Sarang left]
[Kavyata-education]: People here come online and go offline without saying anything so you don't think about them
Dhvani spent time talking with Charchari and Kavyata and learned many things. Now there was an equal male-to-female ratio. This was required because there were group games and the prizes to win were awesome. And she was told that introductions were to be made by members. Also, she understood that sometimes members would be MIA for years because of time differences. But there were surprise gifts given on the server by the moderators.
She meanwhile learned about the chat functions and gift options. For members' benefit, there was a teleport option too. This teleport was only accessible to gifts but not to people. Seemed like someone tried to teleport himself before learning the hard way. And because she got a scratch card that removed a restriction, she also saw other channels too. Like the retired members' channel.
And she got a surprise gift from them. Her 'no specs' colleague gave her a gift card for 10000 skill points. Skill points can be used by both her and her host. She really felt thankful for this. But she could only express her gratitude when she had a level 25 qualification. Only after level 20, she could open higher-level channels, and level 25 allowed her to chat with them. She noticed that the systems were different in the retired members' group. Like the Billionaire system, the Farming system, and her personal favorite, Surviving Apocalypse system. She wanted to see if there was a channel where the retired members could talk with the current members. Then she found a high-level channel with multiple restrictions. She reckoned that one was what she was looking for. So with this short-term goal on her mind, she quickly cashed out the gift card.
Ajay almost fell off the cloud when the announcement sounded in his head. The fireworks burst before him and he was mesmerized for a moment by this unforeseen benefit.
[System rewarded with 10000 skill points gift card]