Prologue
I died.
I even thought dying peacefully was a given option but no, I died in the midst of a crossfire. My life was chaotic. I never experienced peace in my whole life. From stealing food to fill my empty stomach to trading any illegal form of substances to earn some pocket cash. I was always on the run.
As soon as I heard a gunshot, I ran. Street rats always run from pursuers, its nothing new. Yet this one persistent gun-man was aiming for me. Passing through various city alleys to running on top of buildings just to avoid getting hit by my pursuer.
But I slipped just as I was about to turn around the corner into a dark alley. My foot was sprained. I could not move it.
I crawled.
Desperate to move away from this towering man that sneered upon seeing me struggle. His scars were highlighted by a few lights that passed through the openings of the busy street. It made him more intimidating.
“’Yer finished now boy.” He let out a laugh. It was horrifying. I trembled down and stopped struggling.
He grabbed my hair and harshly lifted up my face. I saw his smile, his smile that ran chills down my spine. I did not want to lose hope.
“Oya, you still got that glint eh.” His knees went straight into my stomach. I let out a silent scream. I was down on the ground. His shiny shoes made contact with my chin and many more parts of my body. I felt pain all over me. He snatched the thing that was in my pocket.
“So, this is what they wanted huh, pretty cheeky of them to hide it on some abandoned dog.”
“Please... give it... back..” I tried to talk to him only to receive another blow to my stomach.
“A rare Blue Diamond. The heart of the ocean.” He pulled out his gun from his holster. “Seems like you’re lucky today boy, I’ll end this quickly.”
“No.” I breathed out my silent plea. Then the last thing I heard was a gunshot.
《SYSTEM 017 INITIALIZING》
《TRANSFERRING HOST DATA》
《5% ... 10%...15%...50%....75%...99%...》
《Host transfer now complete. Initializing bonding.》
《Bonding complete》
Kei woke up in a gray spacious room. He first felt his head. There was no blood. He felt his feet. It was still intact. He felt his whole body for injuries, yet he did not squirm nor curse from the immense pain that might have surrounded his body.
“Where am I?” He looked around and saw everything was gray. No bed, no pieces of furniture just a spacious room with nothing but a white ball floating above his head.
Ball? Where did it come from?
[Hi host!]
Kei looked around his vicinity to search for that mechanical voice. Running his sight all around the place only to find nothing.
[Host, I’m up here!]
Kei looked up to see that floating ball squirming around and bouncing up and down excitedly.
“What are you?!” Kei interjected the speaking voice. “I-I mean, who are you? Where am I? Did I really die?”
[Whoa host, slow down with your questions. I shall answer them, one at a time.]
“Then, answer me now!” Kei spat out letting his temper get the best of him as he grumpily squatted on the floor looking up at the bowling ball-sized white ball floating above him.
[Answering host, I am an AI from the systems universe made to host human souls to live their lives to the fullest. My name is System 017. You have died a horrible death, now I am assigned to you for you to be able to live your life, but it comes with a price. You are currently in our system space that holds all of your soul together.] The raven-haired lad looked around the vicinity. He simply nodded in agreement with what the system told him.
“So, what price do want me to do?”
[You, my host, are going to complete various missions in every world that you will arrive in. You will occupy another person’s body in order for you to complete that person’s various wishes and regrets.]
“Why do I have to be in another person’s body? I thought it was rebirth?”
[No host, as I have explained before, I am a transmigration system. You will reside in another person’s body, more specifically a cannon fodder or less than that in order to alter that world’s course and prevent it from being destroyed.] The mechanical voice tried to explain as briefly as possible to his new host.
“Oh, I kinda get it, you are like that system that I often see in movies that do just as what you have said before.”
[Yes host, I hope for your kind cooperation.]
“What do I get in return?” Kai gently touches his chin in an old man manner.
[You will be receiving various points per completed mission and you will have a skill reward per completed world.]
“You sound like an RPG system. Okay, so do I have something called.a starter pack?”
[Yes host.]
《Starter pack received. Open now? Y /N》
Kai saw a floating hologram right before his face. He then tried to touch it manually but to no avail, it just would not respond.
[Host, you only need to activate it using only your brain yo avoid inconvenience and to avoid looking like an idiot waving around your arms like an insane person.] Kai nodded in understanding and successfully made the hologram to respond after getting the hang of it minutes later.
《You have received 1000 points, a total of 1,500 points.》
《You have received a skill scroll.》
《You have received a storage ring.》
《Do you want to open the skill scroll? Y/N》
Kai immediately selected the yes button.
《Cooking skill received. 》
《Do you want to practice now? 》
[You will spend a lot of time in system space for host to learn cooking skills, are you okay with that? ]
“Yes, my soul will not age, am I right?”
[Yes host, you are somehow, immortal unless your soul will be disposed of when you violate systems’ main rule.]
“There were rules?”
[Yes, no OOC unless you need it under various system circumstances.]
“Others?”
[None, now would you like to start learning?]
“Yes.”
