"Lower Realm… Guidance System?"
The last word was one more proof that he was in possession of a System, but the three that came before it confused him to no end. Mark had read his fair share of cultivation novels so his mind went straight to the progression stages those works were known for, but the words "Lower Realm" were far too broad. Do they refer to everything below the final realm? Or is it just the one at the very bottom?
"Do you know anything about this?" Mark asked the maid.
"My apologies. This is my first time hearing such a term." She replied evenly.
As far as he knew, the only supernatural thing about his world, at least before the dragon appeared, were the genetically modified beasts used in the Great World War twenty years ago. That led Mark to conclude that their world was at the lowest stage of whatever hierarchy they were a part of, which would in turn explain the Guidance part.
'A system that helps me navigate this stage?'
Just as that thought crossed his mind, another screen appeared.
[The Lower Realm Guidance System is a Psychic Program created to protect individuals from Madness as well as provide the necessary tools to survive.]
[Subject Mark White has yet to complete the Tutorial.]
[Would you like to start the Tutorial?
>YES
NO
]
Once again, Mark found himself with even more questions than before. He wanted to choose the YES option, but he didn't know how.
'I would've had to press A if this was my game…'
As soon as that thought crossed his mind, the notification blinked and then disappeared. A new one took its place the next second.
[Due to Subject Mark White's very high Psychic potential, LRGS has been upgraded to Level 5]
[Level 5 LRGS generates a Custom Interface that is most compatible with the Subject.]
[The LRGS belonging to Subject Mark White has been recalibrated to perform functions based on the electronic game "Maids VS Apocalypse"]
[To access Player Menu press Start.]
Another set of clear yet confusing lines. Mark already guessed that his System would have something to do with his game, but seeing its title in the notification still took him by surprise. What confused him even more were the instructions at the very end.
'How am I supposed to press-'
His thoughts were accompanied by a vague memory of him pressing the Start button on a controller. Just when he began to think that he might need to carry a controller with him the entire time, the screen in front of him disappeared and a command list took its place.
Mark recognized it immediately. And why wouldn't he? It was the interface from his game, the same one he spent weeks trying to perfect.
A line appeared at the top of his vision. In the right corner was a digital clock showing it was 09:57. On the other side were two letters, HP, and the numbers 86/100. beside it were the letters MP and the numbers 42/100.
Below the line was a menu listing several entries. Starting from the top: Status, Maids, Base, Journal, Inventory, Workshop, and lastly Store.
Mark immediately noticed the absence of the Save and Load options. As soon as he did, a new notification appeared in front of him.
[Subject Mark White has been denied access to Rune ■■■■■■. The "Save" Function cannot be fulfilled.
Subject Mark White has been denied access to Rune ■■■■■■. The "Load" Function cannot be fulfilled.]
'Runes? What Runes?' Mark furrowed his brows. 'and why am I being denied access?'
Unfortunately, this time the answer didn't appear right away. Mark still got the gist of it from those two lines.
'Is this whole thing is made with magic?'
The Runes were essential for the functions to work, that much he understood right away. He guessed that the redacted part, just like Lara's true nature, was a piece of information he was restricted from learning. Since it involves the Save and Load functions, he wondered if these Runes he couldn't access had something to do with time manipulation.
The ability to save and load would've been truly broken. A cheat like that would've guaranteed his survival, then again, there was no shortage of stories where the protagonist suffers endlessly because of time loops or a reset ability. Mark really didn't want to go through that experience.
'If that wasn't my cheat abili-'
Another tremor shook the underground parking lot, this one much more violent than the ones that preceded it. Once again, Mark felt that he was pulled back to the real world and reminded of the urgency of their situation. There was a massive black dragon outside trying to bring the entire office building down on their heads, and unless they did something about it, only death awaited them.
As if to make things worse, a new notification popped up with the words "New Quest Received!" displayed in bold letters. It disappeared the next moment as if to say he should check the quest log on his own. Frowning, Mark imagined himself holding a controller and pressing its buttons. To his surprise, the System interface seemed to react to that.
'I guess I'm technically controlling it with my thoughts, but…'
He pressed the down button until the Journal entry was selected after which he pressed A to enter. The Player Menu slid aside and vanished. Replacing it was a different menu, this one having only two entries: Map and Quests.
Mark selected the second one and entered. On the screen that appeared next, only one line appeared at the top.
'Malarak of… the dark mountain?'
Though the title gave him a really bad feeling, Mark still pressed the A button.
[
Quest: Malakar of the Dark Mountain.
Difficulty: S
As the Complete Dimensional Collapse approaches, a rift in space tore through the city connecting your world to another. Hungry for the souls of your people, a mad Demon crawled out of his cave and crossed the rift, bringing with him only destruction and death.
Due to your powerful Soul, Malakar of the Dark Mountain has set his sights on you, wishing to make you his next meal. Surviving might be difficult, but it is far from impossible. Ensure that your story doesn't end in the mad Demon's guts.
Clear Condition: Escape Malakar's pursuit.
Clear Reward: 20000 AP.
Failure Penalty: Death.
]
Mark's first thought was that he doesn't remember adding such a quest to his game, but the same could be said about the lizardmen they encountered and the black dragon trying to kill them.
'Malarak… is that the dragon's name?'
He remembered how each time Lara killed one of the lizardmen, the message that appeared would call them Malarak's spawn. It was clear from the start that they were connected, but to think they were his offspring all along.
'This is…'
Mark noticed that the quest text was different as well. For one, the quest type was missing, replaced by "Difficulty". The quests in Maids VS Apocalypse were divided into two types; main quests, which advance the story when completed, and side quests, which don't have much impact on the story and are a way to farm resources more efficiently. Mark didn't know much about the new rating metric of the quest, but he could tell that an S for difficulty couldn't possibly mean it was an easy one.
The quest reward was strange as well. Normally, completing quests would grant Gold or Items, but instead, it listed 20000 AP, whatever that was. The System didn't see fit to explain that part for him, too, but it was the least of his worries, and so was the failure penalty.
What concerned Mark the most was the first line of the quest description. "As the Complete Dimensional Collapse approaches". That part was ominous to say the least, and as if to hammer in that point, another notification popped up in front of him.
[Time left until Complete Dimensional Collapse: 14:14:56:24]
It was a countdown.