LONG and curly eyelashes trembled before they slowly opened. Dark irises, which mirrored the galaxy full of shining stars, showed the moment Artemis opened his eyes. Those obsidian eyes, which were supposed to be ordinary, look so fascinating that one stare would make anyone end up in a spell-bound trance. But his eyes currently look like he's in a daze, as Artemis acted like he just got woken up from a long time of sleep.
Artemis stretched his long arms and then used one of his hands to cover his red lips when it released a lazy yawn. That action of his was followed by his other hands scratching his tummy while the same pair of eyes roamed around.
"Hmm?" Artemis lowly hummed with a tone full of doubt.
If he was inside a manga or a comic, then there were probably question marks hovering above his head. His eyes blinked so many times as he couldn't process where he was since all he could see was an unending vastness of darkness, just like the galaxy outside the planet Earth. What made it more clear that it was really a galaxy were those canopies of bright, colorful hues, like stars, spread around like some suspended fireflies.
"Am I dreaming?" he asked in a low, slightly hoarse voice, as if it had been years since the last time he had spoken.
Before he could keep thinking about anything, a sudden idea flashed in his mind as he realized something.
Those hues of lights—or maybe stars in the outer space—his body floating like how a person will float on the moon because of the absence of gravity. And the amazing part is how there's no feeling of suffocation since its a fact that there's no oxygen or any breathable air that could keep a man living normally in outer space.
These things were already familiar to him, yet also unfamiliar. As a person who loves reading books, this kind of background description is really familiar to him even though he has never experienced it in real life.
But before he concludes anything, he must have a proof to make his hypothesis a lot more plausible.
So Artemis could only remain silent as his mind tried to process all his thoughts and analyze them one by one. In the end, after calming his mind from different thoughts, he could only pinch himself as hard as he could.
"Ow, fuck!" Artemis cursed loudly between his tightly clenched toothpaste-commercial teeth.
The pain was too unbearable to be visibly shown in his face, but a flash of excitement and glee made his eyes—which were the same color as the place he's currently in—shine brighter, if they could shine more than they already did.
Unfortunately, before he could let out a sound to show how happy he is, a sound of clearing one's throat was heard behind him. The moment Artemis turned in its direction, a cold and indifferent male voice was heard.
"Artemis Lee, welcome to system domain. I am system 019 of the support system from the system headquarters. I am also known as a second chance system for second main leads, in which I am tasked to assist the host with its world hopping journey, giving the second leads a second chance to have a better life—" The long speech of system 019 was ruthlessly cut off when Artemis unceremoniously pinched those holographic faces of the system. His hand froze for a few seconds after he felt the warm skin with his fingers.
"Wow! So you are not a holographic system but a real one. For a system, aren't you a high grade one for having this cute body? Although at first I thought it was only a holographic image you created to look cute, I didn't know I could really touch your cute and chubby cheeks!" Artemis bombarded while those hands never stopped from pinching.
System 019: "..."
Looking at the awkward look on the system's face, Artemis tried his hardest to prevent himself from laughing at the poor system. Despite the calm indifference that was like it had been programmed into the system, Artemis could still notice the small frown that appeared on the cute form of the system.
And that made Artemis laugh, since the combination of the system's form and expression are a complete contradiction of each other. One was an indifferent character, while the other was an adorable figure of a chibi sphinx—with a head of a man that has long hair like a lion's mane, a lion's body, and then the folded wings of a mighty eagle. Albeit the wings are folded, the system was still floating firmly in the air.
"Hehe, sorry. I can't help it; I am a hidden plushophile. I can't help myself from fondling over your cuteness and maybe wanted to add you to my precious collections of plushies," Artemis said, retracting those stinky hands from the system.
And since he had been eyeing the adorable system like some targeted plush toy from a claw machine, Artemis also saw how the system froze in midair. The fur in its lion body stood up, and like an animated holographic image, the human face of the system paled visibly despite its well-maintained indifferent expression.
System 019's face twitches before contorting in an adorable way. "Please watch your words, host. The word fondling is too suspicious to use on me."
"Pfft!" Artemis quickly covered his mouth with his hand, then he cleared his throat. "Although I am a plushophile, please don't misunderstand. I'm only fond of the cuteness of plushies, but I have no plan of using or seeing them in a sexual way."
System 019 looked at him with an obvious doubt, which made it more adorable and cute in Artemis' eyes. He could feel his hands feeling itchy as he wanted to pinch and hug the system. But to not make the system doubt him more, he tried as hard as he could muster to prevent his plushophilia from leaking.
He once again cleared his throat before calmly looking at System 019, who was suddenly three meters away from him. Artemis ignored that and did not comment; instead, he just focused on his current situation as he looked around once again before returning his eyes back to the system.
"So tell me, Little Lulu—oh, allow me to call you that, as System 019 is too long and boring."
Artemis looks at the system like he is asking if it is okay to call it that, even though the way he smiles at the system already indicates that he will still call it that whether the system agrees or not.
"Just remove the little. I am already a thousand-year-old system—more than a hundred years older than you," System Lulu said with his usual indifference.
Artemis shrugged but no longer complained. "As I was saying, I think you can already tell that I have a few questions I wanted to ask you. I hope Lulu can answer them, no?" she asked instead.
The playfulness that he possessed a while ago was gone. Although he still looks calm and smiley, the system could sense the sudden change in its host. It was surprising at first, but as a professional system, Lulu maintained his calm indifference as he spoke.
"Answering to the host, this system can provide an answer as long as the hosts question is still under the jurisdiction the hosts level posseses. And currently, the host is only in the beginner's rank without any experience yet so this system can only answer some of the hosts question."
A visible frown appeared on Artemis' face, but he did not interrupt System Lulu's speech as he let the system continue.
"The host need not worry as this system will also give the beginner's guide to the host so that the host has the information needed before entering a world."
"As the system had introduced a while ago, I am, support system 019, now called by the host's given name, system Lulu. This system is a second chance system where it allows, helps, and guides the host to enter a world to save second leads and give them a second chance in life."
"And what does this mission have to do with me? What if I disagree? After all, what can I get by saving those world's second leads?"
"The host had forgotten how each mission he completes will give him merit points that he certainly needed in order to increase the rank. If the host reached the highest rank, he could meet the creator and ask the creator the questions that this system will never have an answer to. The host could even ask the creator three wishes. Isn't that enough to tempt the host into agreeing?" System Lulu seriously explains.
Then, like he forgot something, System Lulu flew closer to Artemis. "I forgot to tell the host that, whether you agree or not, the system and the host already had a contract linking each other, which is why hosts were able to appear in this system's domain."
Artemis could no longer hide the arching of his brows as he scrutinizingly stared at the flighty flicking system in front of him.
"Don't look at me like that, host. This system does not belong to the higher ups to forcibly bind hosts to itself. We only accept the assigned hosts to us without the need to question them. Honestly speaking, host is the first one to be assigned to this system by directly binding the hosts soul. Unlike for my past hosts, they were all given a choice to bind with me or go directly to the reincarnation pool."
"Shall I feel honored by that?" Artemis sarcastically asked the system.
"It depends on the host," System 019 immediately answered.
Artemis could feel his side lips twitching while the tips of his fingers felt itchy. He's itching to smack the system so that it can process in its systematic brain that he was actually being sarcastic with his statement.
"Host Artemis will be this system's host for the whole journey of world hopping, until you reach a certain rank to meet the origin and be granted a wish. For now, this system has granted the host three questions that the system will answer as long as it is under the system's jurisdiction."
When Artemis heard that, he contemplated what questions he should ask when his body suddenly jolted after he felt some electric shock coursing through it.
"What the hell was that?" he asked the system in shock.
"I'm sorry host, but I forgot to warn you that with your current level, you can't stay inside the system domain for too long as your soul is still not used to the strong soul force here. Since you only have the enrichment of merits from your past lives, your soul is still too weak and needs to start refining your merits into soul force in order to strengthen your soul. And the only way for the host to do that is to do the tasks this system assigned to you to earn more merits and to cultivate your soul each transmigration," System Lulu explained.
Artemis took a few seconds before he spoke, "So now what? Since your explanation means I am still too weak to stay here, what should I do now?"
"The host still has half an hour, so I can at least explain to the host things about the worlds and the merits. If the host has some follow up questions, then you can just wait for the successful transfer of the hosts soul into an original world vessel for the answer. So I am asking the host to only listen to what this system explains."
And Artemis could only nod his head in response and wait for the system's explanation.
"As I already said, the host needs to travel world to world to give the world's second leads a chance to changed their lives. The host needs to complete at least three regret wish from the original vessel as the host's missions. In exchange, the original vessel's soul will be given to the host willingly as soul nourishment to strengthen the host's soul force. While each regret wish that the host can accomplish will be converted into merit points that can be use as coins to buy anything that the host wants in the system store. Of course each items has a respective amount of merit points according to the items rarity."
"And as a beginner package for the host, aside from the supplement of one purchasing coupon that can be use to buy higher tier items in the system store before entering a world, and also one skill ticket, this system will give the host two free purchasing coupon and an additional one free skill ticket. May I remind the host that you can only use these freebies to purchase items but the item that the host purchase using the coupons can be use in the other world depends on the item unlike the once that the host will buy using his merit points."
"For the skill ticket, the host can only choose a skill according to his current level. And since you are only at the beginner's level, all the skills that are available will also be at the beginner's level. So now, System Lulu has kindly asked the host to pick a free skill from the unlocked options."
Artemis did not answer and just looked at the cute system in silence. System Lulu stared back at his host in return, until it was the system that first surrendered.
"Fine. Only one question, host. You only had twenty minutes left before the system domain could forcibly eject you and transfer you to a random world."
"Better than none at all. So can I not learn what world I can go with before picking a skill?"
"Can." Then five as big as a matured man's fist holographic orbs with different color appeared surrounding the system and his host. "Although the host could not directly know the world plot of each star, she could at least know what type of world they were so the host could choose properly."
"Then show me," Artemis ordered without leaving his eyes from those colorful orbs orbiting around them like some small planets.
System Lulu no longer answers; he just does as he is told. Then suddenly, an interface appeared above each orbs with words. The bluish-green orb has the word, Entertainment Star above it. Then the reddish-brown orb has Modern Star in it. One orb has the tag of a music star, another has the tag of a business star, and the last one has the tag of a historical star.
"If the host had chosen the star, he can just think of pulling the star, and the rest will disappear. Then we can now proceed with the skill that the host wanted to receive."
And Artemis did what was told. He mentally thought of pulling the first orb that got his attention because of its unique color, which was identical to the Earth's. The said orb floated towards Artemis and stopped a ruler's distance in front of him.
"So the host chooses the entertainment star. Good choice for the starter world. Now it's your time to choose a skill, host."
Then a holographic interface appeared between the system and Artemis, and a list of words appeared on it one by one.
Artemis scans the screen. There were actually thousands of skills flashed on the screen, but only ten of them were flashing green, as the rest had a dim color. Artemis could already tell that he could only pick one skill from these ten. Fortunately, Artemis was familiar with most of the ten skills.
"As I said, because of the host's low level, there are only ten available skills that the host can choose from. And filtering out the skills that can be useful for the chosen world of the host, there are four skills as choices. The host can pick between skills such as acting skills, singing skills, piano skills, and perfect expression skills. The host can also use one ticket to receive a new skill and use the other one to upgrade to a mastery level."
Artemis completely ignores the system, as he never takes his eyes off the screen. He glanced at all the available skills once again until his eyes remained on one skill that he's not familiar with.
"System Lulu, what is this skill—a Three-hundred and sixty degrees body flip skill?" Artemis asked.
"It's a skill about making the hosts body as flexible as in acrobatics. Aside from that, it improves the host's body reflex so that once you master the skill, you will have the feeling that your body moves on its own."
A smile appeared in Artemis' mouth as he nodded his head in approval. "Then I'll choose this and the perfect expression skill."
"The host chooses the two skills so the host can absorb the chosen skills. Just touch the panel of the said skills, and you will earn the skills as easy as that," System Lulu enthusiastically explained, despite having a doubt about why the host chose the body flip skill.
Since the host decided to enter his first world, why not pick up the acting skills? But System Lulu, as a system that never questions his host's decisions, could only ask that in his head.
On the other hand, Artemis, who was hoping to enter some special space to train and learn the said skills for hundreds of years, was quite shocked and disappointed with the system's explanation about how to acquire the skills.
But the shock only lasted a few seconds before he composed himself and did as he was instructed. He first touched the skill panel for the three-hundred and sixty degrees body flips before touching the panel for the perfect expression skill.
The screen where the skills were being displayed glitched for a short second before completely disappearing. While the two chosen skill's panels turned into a wisp of light that directly entered Artemis' head.
There happened to be a second hang inside his head, like the time had stopped, so his mind also stopped working. But in a blink of an eye, it was dispelled as information about something poured into his mind like a flood, but not in an overwhelming way.
Those pieces of information were like words read from a book about how to learn to perfect your expression and also to execute correct body flips in different situations. The processing of the information lasted for a minute before everything in Artemis' head became calm again.
"I guess the host is already done absorbing the skills. Then we can now finally enter the first world. To do that, just touch the star host and let it suck you in."
Hearing the word "absorb" again from the system's mouth, a doubt flashed in his head, but he still ignored it as he put his hand on the small orb. This small thing, how can it suck his soul like a vacuum?
Unfortunately, before that thought completely disappeared from his mind, he felt a sucking force from the small orb. And like a black hole, his soul warped like space until he disappeared from the system domain together with the system and the orb.