Chereads / VOID LAND ONLINE / Chapter 4 - System, am I even dead?

Chapter 4 - System, am I even dead?

Jon could not accept the things transpiring around him. He committed suicide by leaping down from a bridge, but he didn't anticipate finding himself in a battle Royale-style contest after his demise. But what is the purpose of this contest? maybe it is how once admission into heaven or hell is determined. But now his mind is set on another thing, 'Sis, I will get the cure' he swore, if he fails all of this may become useless. Since he is already dead and he may never be able to meet his sister. Still, he does everything he could for his sis. as for how he would deliver the cure, he strongly believes there should be a way once he gets his hands on it. 'Or else why would a cure for mortal be in heaven?'

When the countdown eventually ended, Jon was able to move once more. He proceeded forward to the loot spread on the floor. These are the loots nearest to him and in a Battle Royale-style contest, finding loots and drops is the first priority. Wandering without loot (weapon & armor) is a death wish. He had just squatted down when suddenly the vision before him morphed. A translucent screen, red in color, different from the one that delivered the instruction appeared before him. He first thought if this is the dialog box asking to equip the loot but no, it is something else.

[Booting….]

[Booting successful…unlocking all system operations…unlocking successful]

[Ding! The Profound choice system has connected to you]

'A system?' Jon asked surprised. 'Is this the same as the widespread novel trope?'

[No, don't compare this profound, intelligent, wise system to those trashy…]

Jon widened his eyes as the system continued to sing its own praise.

"Cough, System what do you do?"

[Answering the Host, The system is the Profound Choice system, the system's purpose is to help the host make choices at pivotal points]

'Oh that would be helpful' Jon nodded, he is indecisive, it is only when his sister is considered that he is fired up. Because of his indecisive action, he lost many things in his life… Jon quickly shook those train of thoughts, not wanting to sink them.

Knowing he has a system now, he turned to the loot on the floor. Staying unarmed is risky in Battle Royale, what if someone is nearby and killed him with a sniper? but with the system, he felt more confident to get the cure.

There is a total of three items on the floor, the first is a dagger, the second is a small pouch, and the third is leather chest armor. He thought he would get a notification of some kind if he touched them but he didn't.

'Don't tell me I have to manually equip them?' Jon looked aghast; it is a different thing to equip them instantly. You can save time and you don't need to know how to properly equip them.

'If it's manually…' Jon looked at the armor; it has to be tied together at the sides with lace. He could already imagine the pain it would be to equip them. Still, it is better to be in armor than not.

He finally noticed his vision as well; his vision had icons floating in them. Moving his hands before him, he confirmed it should be in his retina…'or brain, wait after death do I even have those?'

Shrugging he noticed what the icons are. On the bottom center is an HP bar in red. The HP is also in numerical value below the HP bar.

HP: 60/60

To the center top is a countdown.

449:04

*449:03

.

.

.

'It should be the remaining time before the tutorial ends' Jon moved on.

To the right top corner is a map, but it only showed five meters around him. The other areas are covered in white.

'Nice, I have to explore the map to update it, just what I need!' Jon complained. Then he thought better, it is better this way since his opponents would not have a map as well.

'It should lack player tracking function as well then' Jon assumed.

To the left side, the corner is his name.

JON

Below the name is the number of players alive.

ALIVE 149

KILL 0

'shit, someone was already killed?' this made Jon tense and scrutinize his surroundings.

Below these two are the points.

pts 0

There is nothing else. so he moved on to the item before him.

He took the pouch and opened it, but it is empty. It had only one opening, no extra compartments, and was made of leather. It had a leather belt to wear around his hip. He equipped it easily.

As soon as he equipped it another icon popped up, just below the map. it had the image of a back bag. No doubt about what it represents.

'So how do I access it?' Jon tried touching the icon but this didn't help. 'maybe I should call it out?' that failed as well, then he had a sudden inspiration and focused on the icon. and behold the icon expanded to a rectangular tab below the map. It currently showed empty.

The dagger seems to be made of fine steel and is light to wield. He accidentally cut his thumb when he tried to check its sharpness.

-1

A red number indicating damage appeared in his vision, he looked at his Hp to notice it is down by one point.

HP: 59/60

He placed it in the pouch and correspondingly a dagger appeared on the bag icon tab. he gave it a glance before he took the Leather armor. It easily fit him but tying the lace under his armpits was the hardest part. It took nearly five minutes and his patients to finish it.

'It kind of feel tight to breathe, did I tie it too strong?' Jon adjusted it to no avail. It was quite a comical sight to see him wearing leather armor on his torso but just his underwear for his legs.

He made his way outside still squatting to avoid any attention. He doesn't know if there was anyone outside. If so, he is poorly armed as he only got a short dagger, 'what if my opponents are armed with firearms; it would easy to kill me before I can even approach them'

"I got to find a firearm first" Jon decided and spied outside the window, he was careful and ready to hide under the window if anyone was outside. There is no one in his sight, but there is a lone wooden cottage nearby. It had its doors and windows closed as well, he moved to every other window and spied to look if there was anyone before he decided to make a run for the other cottage.

He had just come out of the door, but something passed by his feet scaring the shit out of him. he fell down and looked at it to find it is a…' hare?'

He quickly crawled back inside the house; he got almost scared to death. Because his sister's life depends on this and he can't afford any mistakes, nor could he try any other times, since one can only participate 24 hours later. After that, he would be surprised if his sister is alive, she was already on the verge of dying when he died.

He steeled his heart; "now or never", he quickly made a run for it. This time he even ignored his surroundings and made a run for it. Only when he entered inside did he relax, he hid behind the walls and took ragged breaths.

But his eyes were already searching the floor for any loot. And fortunately, there is one, but unfortunately, it is again just a dagger, not any firearms. Besides that, there is a leather armor skirt made of strips of leather. But it and the torso he wearing is seem to be of the different sets as the one he wore is brown while the one on the floor is black.

He didn't hesitate and wore it, unlike the torso armor it is very easy to wear since the armor skirt is worn by a belt. He had to remove the pouch to wear the skirt though. So it took another minute, The black armor is big for him as it reached beyond his knee, but it is either that or nothing.

He scouted outside the room again, and this time he found a bush of blueberry near the house's backside. He didn't know why but the blueberry seems to… "Edible" and inviting. And as if in response, his stomach rumbled.

'Wait, even soul can get hungry? Am I even dead?' Jon thundered.

"System, am I even dead?" Jon asked the only one who can answer him.