1 System Reboot

"The hell? Where am I?"

[System reboot]

[Loading...]

[I'm your land survival system, you are the owner of this new frogezoid body]

[Feed me points, and I'll show you the secrets of survival with the aid of body upgrades]

"Hmmm... well this is interesting."

...

[First main and utterly supreme task, Steve = Locate and claim the Flaming Crown]

Whoever spoke to him, was very direct. This feminine voice that reverberated in his head, went right into business, and urged some presumably important bullet-points.

She continued, [Once you complete this task, you will be rewarded with 17,000 system points. This is the most important task in your life right now, please take it seriously.]

"Wait, who the hell are you?" Steve asked, frantically looked around for help, and muttered. "Angels aren't supposed to talk about flaming crowns, am I in hell or something?"

[This is not hell, and please pay attention.] She urged, [The crown itself holds enough power, to strengthen your chances of survival in this cruel world. Make it a top priority to seek and obtain this item!]

Steve cooperated, he said. "Okay."

In reality, he had no idea what was going on and felt as if he was being mocked by demons. He was supposed to be dead, he remembered dying moments ago due to old age, and now a computerized voice spoke to him, rather than god himself. That latter part, felt like a godsent punishment!

Things got even worse, once he finally got a good look of the surroundings. He couldn’t believe his eyes, the scene was bizarre!

He grunted, "Is that a fucking frog, with hair?"

Moments ago, when he arrived into this 'hell' his vision had been very blurry. He had seen hints of green, which convinced him that he was in a lush field, but now that he was more aware, he realized that he wasn't in such a relaxing place at all.

The hints of green did not come from any herbs or trees, no. The 'greenery' came from countless tall, human-like frogs, who walked up and down a stone encrusted street. Really pretty place, medieval-looking as well.

As he gazed upwards, Steve noticed that this stone street was surrounded by countless houses, which shared the same material and color. It wasn’t too fascinating, but it convinced him that he was in an old city.

He dismissed these grand details as illusions, and asked himself. "Maybe I'm not dead yet? My father saw ghosts before he passed away, I'm seeing frog-men… What a hell of a way to go, haha! Cool shit."

Though, he bore a curious mind. To test just how close he was to death, Steve pinched himself a couple of times, and felt the stinging pain quite vividly.

"That's weird," He said.

Afterwards, he moved his arms around a bit more, just to have a look at them. In great detail, he saw that his hands had just four, green fingers. His knuckles had a darker shade, but that aside, this color alone hinted that he was a frog-man as well, just like the rest of these people.

"I want to see how high I can jump," He muttered, and then just figured. "But if I'm on a hospital bed, then I could be giving my family a heck of a surprise. No jumping for ol' froggy Steve…"

Afterwards, he wanted to figure out just how real his penis was, but his adventurous spirit was suddenly put behind shackles! The 'system' came back, and it challenged everything that he believed right now.

She said, [Steve, you aren't dreaming and this is not an illusion. You're in the ancient country of Firestone, and the planet that this country resides on, is hidden somewhere in the Triangulum Galaxy.]

Steve was struck silent. He had been convinced that he was having weird, pre-death dreams, but that may not be the case. The system just kept adding more and more details, and everything about the surroundings seemed real, so he couldn’t lie to himself anymore!

The system continued speaking, [As I said before, I am your Land Survival System and as long as you're breathing, you're binded with me for good. Would you like to hear a bit of information, regarding what primary capabilities I can help you upgrade?]

After hearing that question, he started crawling towards the side of the stone-road. This place seemed real, and the sounds of this street's lively commute overwhelmed him with various sounds which he didn’t care about. He wanted to take the system seriously now, he wanted to pay attention, and this was best done without distractions.

He then followed along, "Tell me about the upgrades you just mentioned."

[Okay, loading…] The system cooperated.

Afterwards, she added. [Note that levels, across the following listed capabilities, explain how strong a specific category is, with the lowest level being zero. With my help, you can upgrade each and every one of them.]

[Bodily strength, speed and durability = Level two]

[Jaws, eyes, sight and overall senses = Level three]

[Average score of either four, primary types of intelligence = Barely average]

[Mana flow and quantity = Disruptive]

[Magical powers = Flaming Fingers, Poisonous Tongue and Big Jumps]

[Sex appeal = Level zero]

The system convinced him more and more that he was not dreaming. The details were profound, and Steve just wasn't creative enough to dream of anything like this to begin with. His life had been utterly bland, so certainly, he never thought of man-frogs!

Steve had an idea, to confirm the factual soundness of this world, once and for good. He wanted to jump, to test just how high he could reach.

In theory, this was the best way to help himself get convinced, but some brief pain was just as good. Apparently his legs were inverted, so as soon as he stood up, he face-planted onto the stone ground!

It was painful, he didn’t even get to jump! He didn't feel as enthusiastic to try again either.

Thankfully though, he was convinced and grunted. "Yup, very real."

After he face-planted, Steve heard countless giggles and laughter. He was near the street, and what he did was a bit funny, so it was understandable how this bustling street of people made a fool out of him.

These frogs didn't try to help him either, as they just giggled, and whispered awful stuff. From within those whispers, he heard one quite clearly, which helped him embrace this reality fully and for good.

That one whisperer had lightly mumbled, "Look at that drunkard, what a shame..."

That word stung him. In his human life, Steve had never been in the position to be called a drunkard, ever. For that matter, he blamed this froggy body, and whatever it had done before he took control over this said body.

He didn't want to be known as a drunkard, even now, so he tried to stand up and walk away from these putrid accusations. He could be face-palming again, but then suddenly, he felt a couple of hands slipping below his arms.

"Huh?" Steve grunted, and thought that someone wanted to help him.

In just two seconds, he figured out that these couple of people weren't friends. They weren’t cops either, yet they twisted his arms around enough to break them, and then dragged him towards a rather empty alleyway which was close by! He couldn't do anything about it.