This translucent box floating in front of me seemed like it came right out of a video game. I leaned forward to touch it, but my finger went right through it. I tried looking around in case it was a hologram being projected from somewhere close by, but I hadn't seen any form of machinery or electricity since I realised where I was.
"What is this thing?" I asked myself.
DING!
Suddenly a loud sound pinged from the floating box, making me jump in surprise once again. There was a change in what was showing inside of the box, now. Before, it said "rarity" and "legendary" when I went to touch the water, but now it was showing me two new words:
[Infinite System]
"In... finite... system?" I couldn't help but read it aloud.
The floating box - the Infinite System - seemed to radiate in response. Its four sides became animated and made it look alive.
"I guess that's your name, right?"
Instead of answering my question, the Infinite System did something else.
[Storing Miracle of the Heavens]
My eyes widened as I watched the pond water slowly rise into the air toward the floating box before instantly disappearing into it until there was nothing left.
My mind went blank, my face laden with stupor. What had I just witnessed? Did the Infinite System just drink my water?
"Hey!" I shouted at the floating box in front of me. "What did you do with my water?"
There was no change to the floating box in front of me, this time. I daringly raised my hand toward it again, seeing if this time I could touch it, only to be shocked again when it changed into what looked like a video game's inventory screen.
There were a lot of empty squares floating in front of my face, now, all translucent like the box had been. At the very top left corner was one box that had something in it. When my eyes focused on that box, it became a little bigger and words formed underneath it:
Miracle of the Heavens
Type: Elixir
Rarity: Legendary
Description: Said to be distilled from the essence of celestial phenomena and dawn's first dew on centennial blooms. This potion shimmers with shifting colours, encapsulating the sky's beauty.
This all felt so familiar to me. It was exactly like a video game's interface when accessing the player's inventory menu. It even told me a description of what the water was.
"If this is some sort of an inventory," I say aloud, hoping the Infinite System would answer me. "How do I take the items out again?"
Although I was expecting something to happen, I was still surprised by the sudden appearance of the pond water in front of me. It had seemingly been drawn out of the Infinite System in an instant and pooled in the air directly in front of me.
This broke all common sense. I knew it was already weird that I was in a forest, when I should've been in the city making my way home, and there's this screen-like system floating in front of me that drank all my water up, but this new development defied gravity.
I stepped forward slowly, approaching the water with my lips parted ever so slightly, wanting to lean forward to sip at the shimmering water in front of me. Just as my lips were about to touch the surface of the water, it all fell to the ground at my feet with a splash.
I stood there frozen, my lips pursed and hands to my side, looking like I was leaning forward to kiss the air.
"My water!" I screamed in horror, dropping to the grass. "My precious water!"
I looked back at the Infinite System floating in the air where I left it, but it wasn't there anymore. My head span from left to right looking for the system before looking back down to the ground. To my surprise, the floating box had followed me down to the ground and appeared in front of my eyes again.
"Woah!" I yelped, backing away from the box again.
It was apparent that the translucent floating box follows me where I go. It was still on the inventory screen, so I looked at where the Miracle of the Heavens was at the top left corner. To my delight, the box still looked the same - the Miracle of the Heavens was still there!
I once again thought about having the water come out of the system, but nothing came out this time. My eyebrows furrowed and I looked at the box again to be presented with a clock symbol.
"A clock?" I mused, squinting my eyes at the inventory screen ahead. "What does that mean?"
DING!
[Used items will go into a cooldown period depending on the rarity of the item]
"Can you understand me?" I ask the Infinite System.
The translucent box in front of me doesn't change, but slowly fades away as I wait for an answer.
"Hey!" I exclaim. "I'm talking to you. Come back here!"
The system box returns, showing me the same message as before before slowly fading away once again. I sigh and think about the box that held the Miracle of the Heavens water again. The inventory screen appears again to show the enlarged box.
"So the system appears and disappears when I think about it," I conclude to myself internally. "What if I don't want to see the inventory anymore?"
At this thought, the floating box shifted its contents once more to show its name like it were some sort of title screen. Needless to say, I played around with this a few more times, alternating between the inventory and the splash screens, before giving up and resigning to the fact that I'm still without water.
DING!
[Quest: Survive]
You have left your old world behind, you must now survive in this new place.
Find a source of water 0/1
Build shelter 0/1
Reward: Common grade Tool Recipe
"A quest?" I ask the system weakly. "What do you mean 'left my old world'?"
[Quests are tasks given to the player]
"I know that!" I retorted in frustration. "But what do you mean by 'left my old world'?"
The previously lively floating box stayed there unchanged. My head drooped again, disappointed at myself that I was even expecting a straight answer from the system.
Out of all the changes to my surroundings and common sense, being given a quest seemed almost like second nature to me who played video games since I was young. Every game had some semblance of a quest line or story to follow. If I were playing a knight, I had a princess to save. If I were playing a little dragon, I had to listen to my fairy friend and save the rest of my race after they were crystalized by the evil overlord. To me, having a quest only made sense - it was natural.
As I was about to get up to continue walking through the forest, I saw something had changed in the patch of grass that the Miracle of the Heavens had splashed on. In its place now stood a blue and green plant that looked like a common house pot plant. This plant, however, shined in the sunlight and gave off an aura as if it were blessed.
Curiosity getting the better of me, I reached out to touch it and, as expected, the Infinite System reacted.
[Would you like to store Angel Herb?]
[Yes] [No]
Everything was beginning to seem more and more like it were just a video game. I naturally sated my need to collect things and tried to press the 'yes' button only to realise that I didn't even need to physically interact with the system. As soon as I thought about it, the 'yes' button flashed once and the plant, like the pond water, disappeared and appeared in a box inside of the inventory screen.
Angel Herb
Type: Flora
Rarity: Rare
Description: Found in the most secluded meadows, it's said to be watered by the tears of guardian angels. Its aroma alone can lift the veil of sorrow, replacing it with hope and a renewed sense of vigour.