1 System Bootup!
"Consciousness detected. Initializing system…"
'Wha…? What is this?' Lin Ke thought to himself. He was floating in an otherwise dark space, the only other thing in here was a line of text.
"System bootup… 12%"
Please do not turn off the System while Update is being installed.
'I thought I was dead…' Lin Ke looks at his hands. 'My body is here… What happened again? If I remember correctly… A bomb? No. Not a bomb. A rock. Yes. It was a rock. A rock flew out of the sky and hit me.'
"System bootup… 39%"
Please do not turn off the System while Update is being installed.
'Besides, what is this system thing? Why is it booting up? What does it mean don't turn off when Update is being installed... Why is that phrase so familiar? Is this a dream?'
"System bootup… 89%"
Please do not turn off the System while Update is being installed.
'At least it's going by super fast.'
System bootup… 99%"
Please do not turn off the System while Update is being installed.
"System bootup… 99%"
Please do not turn off the System while Update is being installed.
'Whaaaa? Why is it stuck at 99. What is this cheap product? Useless! Complete shit! I demand a refund! 1-Star!'
"System bootup… 99%"
Please do not turn off the System while Update is being installed.
'ARHH. How do I restart this thing? I'm pretty sure it's stuck!'
"System bootup complete. Executing startup sequence…"
'Finally!'
"Personalizing system....
Adding personality…
System startup complete. Loading...."
Suddenly, Lin Ke's vision turned completely white, and all he could see was a huge blue bar that was slowly filling up.
"Loading World…10%"
"FUCK! THIS AGAIN!" Lin Ke shouts. "Wait, I can talk now? This feels so weird. I can't see anything, but I can still hear myself talk. Is this how being blind feels?"
After another few minutes of waiting, Lin Ke's vision finally clears. What he is greeted with is a beautiful white cat, inches away from his face.
"WAH!" Lin Ke flails backwards and lands on his butt. After rubbing his sore behind, he looks up. And realizes the cat is floating. "What, what what what what??"
"When could cats float?" Lin Ke wondered out loud. "Where am I?"
"Welcome, my dear host! I am your personalized system, nice to meet you!" A feminine voice suddenly says.
Lin Ke blinks hard and looks around. What he sees is a large green field, with a blue cloudless sky. As for people, he saw none. He blinks, then rubs his eyes. Then turns around to look behind him. Still no one.
'Shit, there's no way right?' Lin Ke thought.
"Oh there is a way! You are right! I am the one talking!" the white cat says, looking awfully proud of itself.
"Wait wait wait. What? How can a cat talk? How did you know what I was thinking? What is this system thing? Where am I?" Lin Ke askes all at once.
"Now now. Calm down! I will answer all your questions my dear host! I am the magical cat! Yuu- Ehem. I mean, I am your personalized system created by… I guess you would call him God? As for how I knew what you were thinking about… Hehe… That's a secret!" She winks, which is an odd look, for a cat to wink.
After a slight pause, she continues on with her speech. "'This system thing' as you so kindly called it, is me! I am an Artist type system designed to help you on your road to become the best in this world! Yup! That's me! I'm so cool right! Praise me! Praise me!"
Lin Ke wears an odd look on his face. 'This cat.. Is really strange. Why does she talk like that?'
"Wah. That's mean! How could you call me weird! I'm the most non-weird person here! I was created by God! Guh-Ah-Duh! That makes me the most not weird! Anyways, I should probably explain how you got here."
"The reason is simple: Cause you died." The cat has a large bright smile on her face as she says that. "You got struck by a flying rock and died!"
"WAIT! Stop, pause! How do I die from just a rock to the head? I was in a remote village for god's sake! There weren't any tall buildings for a rock to fall off of!" Lin Ke was bewildered. He could remember the rock coming at him from out of nowhere.
"Well… eh… hehehehe…" The cat laughs sheepishly. "You see… God was kind of skipping rocks on clouds to see how many bounces he could get… and… err… maybe? One.. hit… you?"
"REALLY? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WHAT? What kind of god is this careless!? Wait wait wait a second. Why was God throwing stones in the first place? Is he some kid who's bored? How irresponsible!" Lin Ke was fuming. In fact, smoke was coming out of his ears.
"Hehe… Err. Well? On the bright side!" The cat seemed to have found a comeback. "Look on the bright side! You get this wonderful adventure you can go on! Isn't that cool?"
"NO IT'S NOT! There was so much I still wanted to doooo. What are my parents going to think? They're going to be so heartbroken. Noooo." Lin Ke clutches his head in thought. After a minute of silence, he says "Oh right, why did God decide to send me here anyways?"
As if caught off guard by the question, the cat fumbles around for an answer before going, "God knew that you were a somewhat great artist! Sooo, he gave you a chance at a new life!"
"I'm not sure I want to ask, but… were there other choices?"
"Yup!"
"What were they?"
"Errmmm. If I remember correctly, things like reincarnation, you remaining dead, and oh right, also there was a chance of you becoming an animal!"
"And… and how did he choose which option to go for?"
"He spun a wheel!"
"Seriously?"
"Yup!"
The cat was perfectly serious, with no traces of joking on her face.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So you're telling me that there was a chance of me becoming a random animal? A random animal? What kind of God is this? He kills me, and decides to play a game with what to do to me? Completely unacceptable. What is this?"
The cat grins sheepishly, "Now now. That's all in the past now! At least you're here! So let's not waste any more time! This world is one of magic, of many powerful creatures with many different occupations. Of course, along the way, I will explain to you the different cultivation levels. BUT! For now, I will have to teach you about the artist's class differentiations! After all, that is why I was created!" At the end of the sentence, she was getting more and more animated, as if this was what she was waiting for the conversation to get to.
"Now, there are 5 different classes, or tiers, of artists, from the lowest D-tier artist, to the most powerful S-tier artists. The differentiations between the different tiers are pretty straightforward, and to advance to the next stage, you must pass the test that is given by the central authority of this world. Well, at least the central authority for all occupational related ratings, the High Court of Occupations and Skills, or, as the people of this world call it, the Skill Court." The cat pauses for a moment.
Lin Ke, who was looking at the ground contemplating things, looks up to see the cat wearing a pair of large glasses and holding on to a piece of paper with its paws. The cat, as if not noticing anything, softly clears her throat and continues on with her narrative.
"As of right now, you at best could be considered a C-class artist. D-class artists are average artists with no cultivation, so if you were an ordinary human, the farthest you could probably go is D-class. However, for some of the exceptionally talented artists, for example, you, they can go beyond D-class, and scratch the surface of C-class. A C-class artist is able to draw a practically perfect drawing with practically no flaws. In fact, you could probably say that the line between D-class and C-class is quite blurry, however, to a high level cultivator, they would be able to recognize small flaws instantly."
The cat stops talking again. This time, when Lin Ke looks up, instead of a piece of paper, he sees the cat holding a large thick book. The front page writes: "Instruction Manual For Idiotic Reincarnators: Artist Edition" Hurriedly, the cat shuts the book and it promptly vanishes into thin air.
Still pretending as if nothing had happened, she says "So then my Host Lin Ke, welcome, to your new life!"
