After a while, Noah finished preparing the food and placed it in a simple, plain white bowl.
The aroma of the dish filled the small kitchen—seasoned beef strips cooked to perfection, fried eggs perched delicately on top, their yolks still golden and runny, all drizzled with a bright red hot sauce that glistened under the kitchen's soft light.
The scent tugged at a memory buried deep within him, a nostalgic warmth that softened the corners of his heart.
This was his late mother's recipe, something she used to cook for him when he was younger.
It brought a fleeting moment of solace, a small fragment of home, in a life that had turned increasingly strange.
Noah carried the bowl to the small dining table and sat down, his eyes lingering on the steam rising from the food.
For a brief second, he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, letting the smell ground him in the present. Then, with steady hands, he picked up his fork and started to eat.
Each bite was a blend of flavors and emotions, and as he ate, he felt the familiar sensation of the world momentarily settling into place.
But peace never lasted long.
Just as he was halfway through his meal, a faint ding sounded, pulling his attention away from the food. A window materialized before his eyes, disrupting his quiet moment.
[Alert!]
[System initialization complete: Click to display status window]
Noah frowned at the glowing rectangular window hovering inches away from him, and a sigh of frustration escaped his lips.
It had been popping up at the most inconvenient times, and now it was intruding on something as simple as eating breakfast.
"Seriously?" he muttered under his breath. Ignoring it, he took another bite of his meal, resolutely pretending the window wasn't there.
After finishing, he set the bowl down and wiped his mouth with a napkin. He glanced at the clock on the wall.
<7:00 AM>
Two hours until he had to be at the Adventurers' Association for registration.
It was plenty of time, but that window still floated in the corner of his vision, insistent and annoying.
Noah let out a sigh of defeat and, after rinsing the bowl and setting it aside, he made his way to the bedroom.
If he was going to deal with this thing, better to do it now before his day got too busy.
He was curious about this thing that was floating in front of him and what would happen if he pressed it, but he also felt a bit afraid that something strange would happen to him, so he initially refused to press this mysterious thing.
He was cautious; he wasn't the type who would do it if he found something in front of him asking him to press it.
He sat on the edge of his bed, the mattress creaking slightly under his weight, and stared at the glowing window that had followed him from the kitchen.
[Alert!]
[System initialization complete: Click to display status window]
After seeing the dark blue rectangular window appear in front of him once again, he sighed in complete surrender to this mysterious thing.
Noah didn't want to spend his entire life watching such a thing follow him everywhere, then appear before his eyes every time.
After he kept looking at it for a while, he felt many emotions as he stared at it; fear, curiosity, and tension. But curiosity was greater, so he took a deep breath filled with great anticipation from this thing in front of him, after which he decided to press it.
[Alert!]
It flickered before him again, this time with the same unreadable determination.
For a moment, Noah just stared at it, his mind racing with a mix of curiosity and reluctance.
He wasn't the kind of person to mess with things he didn't understand. And this—whatever it was—felt deeply unnatural. But it was also persistent, and ignoring it hadn't made it go away.
Noah took a deep breath as he looked at the dark blue window in front of him, then slowly raised his hand towards the golden writing in the middle of it.
He groaned softly, running a hand through his tousled hair. "Fine," he muttered, as if the system could hear him. And it does!
When his hand approached the window, he hesitated a little, but after a moment of doubt, he touched the golden writing with his finger.
He tapped the floating window, his finger brushing against the golden script that shimmered in the center. As soon as he did, a soft hum filled the room, and the window shifted in response.
Suddenly, his fingers felt a slight surge of energy, and then...
[Alert!]
The dark blue window disappeared as soon as he touched it, replaced by a new screen filled with incomprehensible information, similar to what he saw in video games.
The screen dissolved into an entirely new interface filled with small symbols, text, and strange icons that seemed straight out of a video game. Noah blinked in surprise, watching the numbers and stats scroll before him.
A table appeared in front of him containing a list of words, small drawings, and symbols, changing and refreshing rapidly.
Noah was surprised by the sudden change, but he read the texts out loud to try to understand what was happening:
[Name: Noah Nightshade]
[Age: 18]
[Gender: Male]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Duelist]
[Trait: Null Reaper]
[Title: None]
[Rank: Dormant]
[Tier: Lower]
[Experience Points: 0]
Noah's eyebrows shot up as he read through the stats. "What the...?" His voice barely broke a whisper, the words feeling foreign in his mouth.
It felt surreal, like a dream that danced on the edge of nightmare and adventure.
His heartbeat quickened, the anticipation of something unknown surging through his veins.
A second window popped up beside the first, offering even more choices.
[Show detailed stats]
[Show available skills]
[Void Inventory](Closed)
[Okaris Records](Closed)
[Crafts Store] (Closed)
"Huh?" Noah was overwhelmed. Was this some kind of sick joke? Or was this real?
He felt like he'd just stepped into another world, and his mind couldn't decide whether to panic or laugh.