[I suggest you avoid that.]
"...!"
[That's an anti-climatic reaction. I expected you to yell your lungs out. I am quite disappointed. Perhaps, I should have appeared at a different time.]
'What the fuck is happening?! I know this is a system because that's how they always showed it in the games and movies. But I shouldn't have a system. I didn't get a system last year and I don't recall doing anything that would give me a system now.'
Liam's thoughts were all over the place. He was already confused as to why he didn't wake up in the real world, and now he had encountered a different issue.
[Of course, you didn't get a system last year. Why would someone get another system when they already have one?]
"Wait… is this system responding to my thoughts? No, more importantly, how can a system communicate?! The sole purpose of the system is to help one become stronger. They don't have consciousness! Have I gone insane? That must be it. I have lost my mind."
The people in the cage with Liam gave him a concerned look and decided to stay away from him.
[You don't have to speak loudly to talk to me. People will think you have gone mad.]
'I have gone mad!'
[It seems I need to explain to you what's happening. First of all, stop thinking about dying.]
'But I have to die to get to the real world!'
[You can no longer go to the real world. You are stuck here.]
"This can't be happening! I have to wake up. If I miss the evaluation day, I won't be able to join any guild and start my hero journey! I must die!
[If you wish to return, you must finish the quests! Also, I know you don't care about the evaluation day and the guilds. So stop that excuse.]
"..." Liam dropped the act and became emotionless.
'Okay. Tell me what the fuck is going on and who the hell are you?'
[Whoa. I don't like the way you talk. You need to fix it.]
'I don't need a bunch of codes to tell me what to do.'
[Listen carefully, you dipshit. Don't ever insult me if you want to survive. Your existence is in my hands.]
'You have got hands?'
[...]
Liam let out a short sigh. 'Explain please.'
[It's been a long time since I last woke up. I need to do something first. Clench your teeth and endure it.]
'What do you—!'
Liam fell to the ground as his body trembled as though he was having a seizure. His entire body felt like it was on fire, as though it was being burned from the inside.
The people around him in the cage with him were now certain that Liam was mentally ill.
After a few minutes, Liam stopped trembling, but stayed in the same state. He didn't have the strength to move.
'What… did you do to me?' he asked the system.
[I am now fully synchronized with your body. We can start the adventure now.]
'I asked to wake up and go to the real world. I don't need a fucking adventure.'
[You can now access the menu. You know how to do that, right?]
'I don't have the energy to move my body.'
[You are lucky, since you can access it by voice command too.]
'Open menu.'
The contents on the screen changed, and a blank page appeared.
'Why is it blank?'
[We have a lot of things to do. Let's give you a name first.]
'I already have a name.'
[Your body, age, and basically everything differs from the real world. Your name is uncommon in this world. We need something else. I will create everything on your behalf, so just sit and watch.]
The blank page slowly began to fill by itself.
[Name - Lee Yam.]
'What the fuck is wrong with you? Why would you give me a name like that?'
[Isn't that what you wanted?]
'No, it's so lame. Give me another name!'
[That's not possible. You should have told me before if you had a name in mind.]
The page continued to be filled.
[Age- 12.]
'I knew this body was young but… I don't think it's twelve years old. I have been here for more than a decade and the body at that time was probably around seven or eight years old.'
[You haven't spent more than five hours a day in this body. Obviously, there is time dilation too.]
'What's the ratio? Is it different like in the tower and the portals? I never paid attention to the time dilation of the dream world because it didn't matter. I always wake up after a certain amount of time.'
[Your mind needed time to adjust the time dilation. But now it's specific. As for the ratio, the tower is perfect in every sense so we will have the same time difference as the tower.]
"One day in the tower roughly equals one hour in the real world," he muttered under his breath.
[If you spend a day in the dream world, one hour will pass in the real world. If you only spend an hour in the dream world, merely three minutes will pass in the real world. However, I would suggest you at least spend a day in the dream world, or else your brain will be affected.]
Liam pondered for a moment and asked, 'So I will wake up in the real world after I spend a day here? Well, that's okay. I will manage somehow.'
[No, you can't go back to the real world unless you finish the quests.]
'What the…'
A new detail was added to the menu.
[Ability - Immortality - S Rank. Cooldown - 21 hours and 39 minutes.]
'Explain.' Liam could only say that.
[You can kill yourself again once the cooldown ends.]
'Yet, I will not wake up in the real world?' Liam asked to confirm.
[Yes. You can die every twenty-four hours and nothing will happen to you. However, if you die when your ability is still in the cooldown, you will die for real. You will also die in the real world.]
"....!"
Liam was never truly afraid of death in his dream world, except when he entered the dream world for the very first time— but that's the story for another time.
'Why is this happening to me? I didn't do anything. And I… I never had a choice. I always come here whenever I sleep. Please let me wake up in the real world. I don't want to be a part of all this.' Liam pleaded with tears in his eyes.
[It was your wish to come here.]
'I never—'
[You wished for it. You know it.]
'I-I… never asked to be trapped here. A-And this has been happening for more than a decade. Why am I experiencing this… dilemma now?'
After a brief silence, the system said, [Consider it a birthday gift, Liam.]
"..."
It took a while for Liam to comprehend the situation. Eventually, he realized that he had no choice but to accept his fate.
'Okay. What are the quests?'
[Searching for quests.]
The system searched for the quests for a few minutes.
[No quests found.]
[Don't worry. The quests will appear. Let me explain the rest of the stuff to you.]
'You can't fool me, you son of a bitch! You are the mastermind behind everything. You were the one who gave me this power to enter the dream world. I don't know for what reason, but now that you have control over everything, you want to use me as your minion to get things done for you!'
[Sigh! How come you have become this stupid? You turned sixteen today in the real world, but it seems that your brain is twelve years old.]
'There you go again. Avoiding answering my questions by changing the topic. I know I am right, you motherfucker.'
[I already told you to talk to me with respect. Do you want me to give you another seizure, huh?]
'You… you are the demon king…'
[I will answer your stupid questions. I don't have anything to do with anything. And why would I choose you if I needed a minion? You don't have any talent. You are completely useless to me.]
"..."
[I think I went too far. I apologize.]
'You are making it worse by apologizing.'
The system explained everything to Liam as the blank page filled itself further.
[There are three things to keep in mind. Reward points. Ability points. System points.]
Liam looked at the description of the newly added point system.
[Reward points (RP) - You can obtain 1 reward point by completing 1 quest. You need 10 reward points to redeem them and enter the real world.
Note- Reward points are different from the rewards given at the completion of the quests.]
[Ability points (AP) - You can obtain them randomly by completing quests and other things. You need ability points to redeem and upgrade your abilities to the next rank.
Note- From A Rank to S Rank = 1 AP. From S Rank to SS Rank- 3 points. From SS Rank to SSS Rank= 10 AP.]
[System points (SP)- You can obtain 1 System point by completing a set of quests. You need System points to upgrade your system.]
Liam read the description, but he still had questions.
'Let me make this clear. I need 10 RP to return to the real world. And 1 RP is a guaranteed reward for the quest.'
[Indeed. You will have other rewards depending on what type of quest it is.]
'I understood everything about the ability points. What's the system upgrade?'
[By updating the system, you will get double rewards and the frequency of quests will increase too. The Quest slot will increase from 2 to 5— meaning you will be able to complete five quests at once.]
'What happens if I am unable to complete quests? Will I be trapped here forever?'
[Yes.]
'What about my body in the real world? Even if there is time dilation, if I am stuck here and I am missing for a couple of days in the real world, people will notice.'
[There is no one who cares about you in the real world, except one person. You can prepare to live the rest of your life here. It's not bad compared to that shithole, is it?]
Liam stayed silent and didn't reply.
A few minutes passed by, but no one approached Liam. He glanced around and found that most of the hostages had fallen asleep.
'Sleep…'
Sleeping had become a foreign thing to Liam. He would always enter the dream world when he slept, but now he could finally sleep in peace.
Liam laid down on the ground and closed his eyes.
The guards checked all the cages and gathered around.
"When are the commanders returning? They were supposed to return today," one guard asked.
"We haven't gotten an update, so we should move according to the plan."
"We were tasked to capture three hundred children and two hundred adults. The task is completed."
All the guards suddenly turned round and faced the same direction.
"Did you guys feel it too?" one asked.
"Yeah."
They all took out their weapons and prepared themselves for whatever was coming towards them.
Suddenly, lightning fell from the sky and five figures appeared.
"What are you doing, you bastards?" the figure asked.
"Why are you having a party without us?" another uttered.
"Why is no one guarding the cages?"
All the guards fell to their knees and bowed their heads down.
"We greet the commanders! May the Shadow clan reign supreme!"
The commanders examined the area and looked at the cages.
"Is it done?" he asked.
"Yes, commanders! We have successfully completed the task!"
"Keke!" He laughed out loud and uttered, "Well done!"