Demi System

Just after Adrian took his own life, a hazy purple screen appeared atop his body.

[The Original System takes an interest in your achievements in creating a system without their authority and stopping a rogue Outsider's Apocalypse.]

[OS offers you a chance to change.]

[Will you accept?]

…

[Silence will be taken as acceptance.]

…

******

Since his death Adrian has been trapped in this dark void, stretching infinitely in every direction, and yet it felt so claustrophobic.

An unknown amount of time has passed since Adrian first opened his eyes here.

As time passed Adrian explored the endless void.

Until a hazy purple screen appeared in front of him.

******

[Thank you for accepting.]

"What does that even mean?" Adrian asked the screen, amused that he had finally found something in this void.

[Please refer to the earlier prompts]

"What prompts?" Adrian asked, amused by the new factor in his environment.

[OS has sent the Efficiency System]

[Binding process will begin in 3…2…1…starting]

A dull gray light shot out of the purple screen piercing directly into Adrian's chest.

"What the fuck?" shouted Adrian before he passed out

******

When Adrian awoke, there were three new prompts in front of him.

[Bonding complete … Efficiency System now bound to host]

[Randomly selecting stat...]

[Endurance stat detected… Adding to the system]

After being forced unconscious before by the light screen in front of him he became angry.

"Just let me repent in peace!" screamed Adrian as he punch the light screen only to have his fist pass straight through

[The Cursed Writer takes pity on the fool]

[Cursed Writer sponsored the Absolute System and asks only that you provide an interesting story in return]

Adrian braces himself to black out again, but after ten minutes of waiting nothing happened.

[Absolute System has been added to your story]

'Why didn't that hurt?' Adrian whispered to himself

[Absolute System issues an emergency Quest]

[Quest: Leave the void has been added]

[Clear Condition: Accept the invitation]

[Reward: Bloodline Stimulating Pill]

[Failure: Soul Immolation]

Right after the quest appeared, an envelope materialized in front of Adrian.

All that was written on it was: Will you join? Yes. No.

Instinctually fearing "Soul Immolation" Adrian hurriedly thought, 'Yes!'

In response, the envelope was enveloped in flames and the void around him receded.

******

[The Original System curses at the Cursed Writer, while reluctantly inviting Constellations to join the party.]

[The Cursed Writer sarcastically thanks the Original System and welcomes the late guests saying "You've missed a lot."]

******

After the void receded, Adrian lost all of his senses and was stuck in a cold static state, only able to read the messages that had passed by once again.

Adrian woke up lying on a beach with a red sun hanging in an azure blue sky. He could barely see what looked to be two moons circling the sun.

Before he could look any further, another hazy purple light panel caught his eye.

[Nexus Interface Receiving Update … Installation Process 1% … 5% … 20% … 60% … 100%]

[Rebooting … New Feature Page Loading … Loading Failed … Reason: Unauthorized To View]

In an instant, hundreds of messages were simplified into two simple lines.

Adrian sighed while unconsciously swiping away the messages with a weird sense of familiarity with the system.

As Adrian tried to stand, he heard a robotic female voice whisper in his ear. At the same time, a cherry-colored panel appeared in front of his eyes, replacing the messages.

[Master Adrian Walker. I have been provided by Nexus Interface to assist you in your journey.]

[You are the first mortal to receive the Nexus Interface rejoice, for you now have the privilege to enjoy conversations with the Energies, Constellations, and even Outsiders.]

[Please name your new assistant, by which I mean please give me a name.]

Stunned, Adrian sat there in silence, his brain analyzing and storing every single word.

Adrian had many questions, but to keep it short he said, "First off, don't call me Master and just refer to me as Adrian. Second, what do you mean by assistant and journey? Where am I?"

[I understand from now on I will call you Adrian, and it's quite simple. I am here to help you have an interesting story. Now please, name me.]

Adrian was skeptical as to why this 'entity' wanted a name so badly, and if he could change as the messages told him before if so he would do anything, so, albeit reluctantly, he said, "I'll call you Sakura, it means cherry blossom."

[Sakura, understood from now on call me Sakura. Thank you for bonding to Nexus Interface your soul is now bonded any energy you gain 10% will be taken as a fee.]

[In return, Nexus will provide you with donations from any who wish to sponsor you and you are now able to use the Nexus-affiliated shop. Sakura really likes the name.]

"I FUCKING KNEW IT! ALL OF YOU MESSAGING BASTERDS ARE THE SAME! THIS IS ALL A SCAM?" Adrian flipped up onto his feet and yelled to the sky.

A strange cherry-colored light rushes over Adrian's body calming his opinions of the Nexus Interface and Sakura.

Suddenly a green blur rushes out from the tree line near the beach, although it seemed incredibly fast, Adrian could still react, dropping to the ground as the blur lunges at him.

The blur missed Adrian by a few centimeters. Acting quickly Adrian launched a quick jab directly to the blurs side, knocking the blur to the shoreline before rolling back and flipping to his feet.

Dazed after taking a hit from what looked like a defenseless bald monkey, the blur jumped back and growled at Adrian.

Now that the blur was still Adrian finally noticed that it looked to be a green wolf.

[Sakura is not a bastard. Sakura's job is to help Adrian. Here, look, I didn't scam you //Set Access Skill Analyze LVL 5 True For 40 seconds// look at the information of the wolf, it will help.]-

After Sakura finished speaking Adrian's mind filled with information about the blur.

[Lesser Air Strike Wolf]

[Description: An over 100-year-old wolf that has a basic understanding of the elements of Air and Gas.]

[Skills: Lesser Haste, Lesser Air Blade, and Basic Gas Manipulation]

[Strengths: High speed, hardened fur, and 600kg bite strength]

[Weakness: Sensitive to smells, the underbelly and abdomen are soft and are easy to cut]

[Note: Seems starved and you look like a snack]

With this odd new information in his head, Adrian took full advantage of the situation, immediately charging down the wolf.

The wolf, emaciated and weak from hunger and pain, shot a small green air blade at Adrian.

Adrian tried to sidestep the blade but quickly learned the hard way that part of the blade's length was much further than the eye could see, leaving a shallow gash across his chest.

Unfazed by the blood leaking from his chest, Adrian gets close enough to the wolf and throws a swift right hook into the wolf's abdomen, sending the wolf barreling across the beach.

Adrian tried to rush over and unleash a barrage of blows, only to quickly lose his footing and fall into the sand, still not used to his unfamiliar younger body, lack of clothes, and unevolved frame.

This small mistake allowed the wolf to regain its balance and charge down Adrian. The moment the wolf caught up to Adrian it bit down on his shoulder, tearing off chunks of flesh causing blood to spew out like a fountain.

Adrian winced in pain, but this pain was nothing compared to having your body change on a genetic level even with that said he lost all feeling in his right arm and a chill started to run up his spine as his arm was almost bitten off.

[Your time is running out for the skill… 20 seconds before you are blinded by deactivation.]

Adrian grapples with the wolf who just tore a gaping hole in his shoulder, putting it in a headlock while trying to break its neck, but thanks to his previous injuries, his shoulder gave out allowing the wolf a chance to escape.

As the wolf was escaping it jumped back well out of Adrian's reach, but even so, Adrian, who at the moment was still unsure of his balance, still chooses to rush down the Lesser Air Strike Wolf.

[The same trick won't work twice.] warned Sakura

'Great! Oh and also of course you people would blind me now, it's not like I need my eyes in a fight.' Adrian retorted in his mind, keeping his eyes fixed on the wolf.

As he runs Adrian searches around him for anything he could use as a weapon. Luckily there's a piece of driftwood a few meters away that looks sharp enough to help.

Just as he leaned down to grab the driftwood the wolf lunged at him again biting into his exposed abdomen assumingly to repay the punch from earlier.

In response, Adrian fell backward gripping the wolf's head, pulling it into a head lock, allowing Adrian to grab the driftwood and try to kill the wolf, but just as he was about to stab the wolf the timer hit 0 and he went blind.

Even though he could no longer see, Adrian still chose to stab the piece of driftwood in the general direction of the wolf with as much force as he could.

Luckily he hit the wolf puncturing its lungs and stomach though the wolf continued to constantly struggle for another 10 or so seconds until its jaw went slack and let go.

After he was certain the wolf was dead Adrian fell back onto warm beach sand, gasping for breath while feeling his side and arm both had giant gashes taken out of them.

Adrian crawled over to the water and heard a dinging sound before passing out from blood loss.

[Endurance Efficiency Increased by +10%]

[Hidden Mission: First Kill (Complete)]

[Reward: +3 Evolution point]