In the most prestigious hospital in New York, in one of the rooms, one person was lying in the hospital bed.
This person's whole body was covered in bandages. Beside him was a man in a black suit. His expression was funny, smoke was coming out of his head.
"Sir...just what did you do again to have these injuries? Your whole body's bones are broken! You're lucky you can still talk and move your body around!"
"Will you shut up Henry? I just tried to brawl bear-handed with a bear... It's not that of a big deal right?" The man in the bed said casually as if the things he said were normal to do.
"HUH? Brawl with a bear?! And even bear-handed!? Who in the right mind would do that!?" Henry was speechless. He didn't think someone would actually try to fight with a bear and even bear-handed.
He thought it was very possible if this person tried to do it.
"Me..?" The man in the bed answered.
His answer just made Henry angry further. "Seriously, how did I end up working for a person like this? Who would thought that the richest person in this world was a person with a problem on his head..?"
"Oh please.. you're flattering me."
That's right. This man is Vlad Lennon, the current richest man in the world. And he achieved this at the age of just 23! He was a never-before-seen genius.
Henry just sighed, he excused himself seemingly exhausted.
***
A month passed, at the rooftop of the hospital, a person was at the very edge of the hospital. Just one step and he was about to fall to a 30-story building, he'll surely die if he jumped off the building.
This person was Vlad, after a month he seemed to be half healed right now, but there were still some bandages wrapped around him. Despite being one step away from death, his face was still calm.
"This world is so boring... I've done everything just to entertain myself. I climbed the peak of Mount. Everest with just thin clothes and minimum equipment. I dived into the deepest ocean, the Mariana Trench with no equipment."
"I've done everything! Yet, my boredom won't go away. Dying is better than just living in this boring world."
Just when Vlad was about to take a step, a blue screen suddenly appeared in front of his face.
_________________
Congratulations! You have obtained the Vampire System! Please say 'Open Stats' to activate the system.
_________________
"Huh? What's this? A Vampire System?"
Vlad found it strange, a blue screen suddenly popping out? It's not like he was in a game.
Rumble
The earth trembled, Vlad almost fell down but thankfully he found his balance and took a step back from the edge of the building.
"Whew, that was close..." Vlad released a sigh of relief.
He didn't mind that he was about to die but he didn't want to miss this strange thing that appeared on his face.
"Was that an earthquake?" Vlad thought.
Crash! Boom!
Vlad heard crashes and explosions. He tried to get closer to the edge of the building and looked down to see what was happening. He was surprised at what he saw.
Vlad saw some cars going wild and crashing into something and then exploding but this wasn't that surprising. The surprising thing is some people were eating each other just like zombies!
"What's happening? Is this a new trend or something? Am I getting old now?"
While Vlad was watching the zombies eating people he noticed another strange thing.
"Hmm...I noticed that every person that a zombie-like person bites also acts just like them and eats people...Is a zombie apocalypse really happening?"
Vlad also reads web novels to lessen his boredom. It was his favorite thing to do while he was not busy. That's why he was familiar to
the things that were happening right now.
"Right, that screen that popped up earlier said that I should say 'Open Stats' to activate my System right? Let's try it."
Vlad remembered the screen that appeared earlier, he looked around for a moment if there was any person around and muttered.
"Open Stats"
Suddenly a red screen popped up on Vlad's face and a monotone voice echoed in his head.
*Welcome Host! You have activated the Vampire System! Since you are new to the mechanics of the System, do you want to proceed to the tutorial [How to use the System 101]?*
_____________
Name: Vlad Lennon
Race: Half-Vampire (Still Evolving)
Title: Bearer of the Vampire System
[Stats]
[Quests]
_____________
"Ohh...This is just like the things in those web novels! This is exciting. For once, my heart is actually beating fast due to excitement!"
"Hmm...A tutorial huh? I feel like that's a bother since it seems similar to the game interfaces that I play to...However, usually, a reward is given after completing a tutorial right? Well, no harm trying it."
"System, I want to proceed to the tutorial." He felt weird that he was talking to someone in his head.
*Proceeding to impart you the tutorial [How to use the System 101]. Please be prepared, you may feel a little pain while in the procedure.*
"Huh? Pain?"
The System ignored Vlad.
"Gaah! What is this?! Something...is forcefully...entering...my brAIN?!"
An intense pain attacked Vlad's head. He experienced painful things already because of the 'fun' things that he did before but this pain was on a whole level!
He felt like something was squeezing his brain directly. It was simply unbearable.
A minute passed with Vlad screaming his lungs out in pain.
"Haa...haa..."
*Successfully imparted [How to use the System 101]. The reward will be given in a short while.*
"It better be worth it, otherwise.."
Vlad was staring at the red floating screen in front of him with killing intent. He was angry, the information that was imparted to him didn't even contain a thing on how to use the System! It just gave him the restrictions to use the System.
He was furious! All that for just this thing!?
*...*
Suddenly a light appeared above Vlad's head. The light was gathering at one spot, and then a book appeared.
Vlad reached out for it. He carefully inspected the book. He opened it, and after seeing the inside, he looked at the red screen with a strange look. He was thinking in his head about how to kill an invincible entity.
"What's this? Are you making fun of me? What's the use of an empty book? It doesn't even have a title."
*You've obtained a skill book. Do you want to use it?*
"Ohh...so it's a book that contains a skill. Why didn't you say so?" With Vlad's familiarity with web novels and games, he already deduced the use of the book.
"Anyway, what skill is in this book?"
*What you obtained is a Random Skill Book. You won't know what skill you will get until you use it.*
"Hmm...So there are different types of skill books..Wait, if there are different types of skill books..why didn't you just give me the specific ones?" Vlad raised one of his eyebrows looking at the red screen.
"..."
Seeing the System was silent, he snorted. "What a cheapskate System. Well, I guess it's better than nothing. I want to use the skill book please."
*Affirmative. The absorption of a skill book has begun.*
Suddenly the skill book that Vlad was holding let go itself from his grasp and floated above his head.
"Somehow, he felt a déjà vu seeing the book floating."
A skill book must contain pieces of information about the said skill. And using it must mean that that information needs to be absorbed by the said user in his head.
Which means suffering again with those excruciating pain!
"Wait! I didn't prepare myself yet!.."
Too late. The process has already begun.
The book was shattered in pieces of light. Those lights gathered and formed a ball. That ball went to the center of Vlad's forehead and slowly entered.
Little by little, pieces of information about the skill flowed inside Vlad's head. And surprisingly, he didn't feel those agonizing pain while he was absorbing it.
After a while, he finished absorbing all of the information about the skill.
"Honestly, I thought it was gonna be something lame but this seems to be a useful skill."
Suddenly, the door to entering the rooftop opened causing Vlad to be startled.
He glanced at the one who entered and he was surprised.
"Did the zombies already infect the whole hospital? Isn't it a bit too fast? If I remember correctly, 30 minutes only passed since the beginning of the outbreak and they already infected this whole hospital with a 50-story building."
"Oh well, no point thinking about it. But this is a good opportunity to test my new skill."
Vlad pointed his finger at the approaching zombie. It was incredibly slow and acted as if it didn't see Vlad, it must be blind and relies upon its hearing.
"Blood Arrow" Vlad activated his skill.
However, nothing happened. He can only hear the zombies growling noise.
"Oi System! What was that!? I've activated the skill but nothing happened!? Is this your way of embarrassing me!?"
A hint of redness was in Vlad's cheek. Imagine shouting a chuunibyou thing to say and in the worst case, nothing happened. Khu...Just imagining it makes you cringe. Thankfully, no one heard him say it other than the zombie.
*Sufficient blood is needed to activate the skill [Blood Arrow].*
"Then why didn't you say so!? You've caused me to embarrass myself!"
*I believe this was also stated in the information given in the skill book.*
"Ah...Now that I've checked it..."
*...Heh..* The System smirked.
"Why you....I've had enough. Hey you, zombie. You will be my punching bag for today. Be a good thing and stay still okay?"
Grr?
***
[TO BE CONTINUED]