Oliver

The boy opened his eyes. He was lying on his back, facing a pristine white ceiling. Unlike the gray colored ceiling that he was used to. Using his hands to prop himself up, he saw a large room with many other beds. Looking to his left, there was a clear window showing a beautiful sky.

This was unexpected.

[Good morning! What do you think?]

He turned his head and was face to face with a tall woman, as tall as his sister.

[Let me introduce myself again. I'm Ava, the system in charge of you!]

With a large dramatic wave of her hand, she gestured to the large blue sky outside.

"....Where is my sister?"

The boy looked around and stared intensely at each bed. They were mostly filled with other children. His sister was nowhere to be found.

[Your sister is in another place right now, with a friend of mine. The two of them need to do something, but we will meet up with them later.]

Ava sat down on the chair beside his bed and turned her body to face him.

[Are you ok? Did the scene before you came here scare you?]

"...No. That's not the issue."

The boy's eyes turned unfocused as he remembered what seemed like the final moments of his life.

As per his usual routine, he had said goodbye to his legal guardian Andrew. Then, after taking one step onto the street in front of their house, a large shadow enveloped him.

Looking up, it was a truck.

At that exact moment, when fear had shocked his body and he was convinced he was a goner, time seemed to slow down and a voice appeared inside his head.

[Quick! Do you want to live? If you die right now, your sister is definitely gonna go with you! But if you sign a contract with me, I can guarantee that the both of you will live. However, we will be going to another world. There isn't much time, so I'll tell you the details once you decide!]

Hearing the voice in his head, the boy gritted his teeth. He knew that he couldn't say no. His life was not only his own, but his sisters'. The moment he disappeared from this world, his sister would go mad. And he couldn't bear to let that happen.

Agreeing to the contract, he remembered blacking out.

[Well...]

He refocused his gaze at the system in front of him who was slightly fidgeting.

[There was a slight error in where you were transported. You were transported into a spot where a landslide happened and are now in the hospital. Thankfully, you arrived after the landslide, but you still suffered several injuries and needed to be hospitalized for a while.]

Explaining, the system in front of him then scratched her cheek sheepishly.

The boy stood up and looked all over his body. He even used the slight reflection on the glass windows to check out the areas he couldn't see.

Good. No visible wounds. God knows how much he hated seeing those bright eyes of his sisters haze over when her illness was triggered.

[Anyway, putting aside the mistakes, I should probably tell you the details of the contract you agreed to. The main detail is that you and your sister will stay here for around 20 years. The body you have now is a recreation, so it is not as resilient as the bodies of people born naturally in this world. So after around 20 years it will start to break down. Your sister is currently under surveillance by my friend. After all, her illness doesn't exist in this world so there needs to be several months of preliminary surveillance. After that, my friend will bring her here and you two can meet.]

The boy listened to her explanation with a thoughtful pose.

"If her illness is gone, then is there a reason I am here? Or is it because I am her brother?"

Was it another one of those cases? Where someone was trying to get to his sister through him. He was sick to the stomach with those people. Sometimes, he even wished that he was born in another family. A normal family.

But then, when those guilt stricken thoughts threatened to consume him, his sister would always touch the curly hair on top of his head. She would comb those thoughts away, and calm him. And her bright, sparkly eyes that always only seemed to see him. Like a curse, they always appeared in his mind during both the highest and the lowest of times.

[Not entirely. I'm a system from the adolescence department, so it's my job to help children in unfortunate situations live out their lives in other worlds. Although we can't help everyone so it's usually children involved in major events.]

Major events? What event?

He narrowed his eyes at the thought, and seemed to have an inkling that it was related to his sister's illness. However, the system's next line shocked him to the core.

[I'm also from the talent transmigration department, so I also help transfer gifted individuals between worlds and nurture them. Some of them go on to cure illnesses or pioneer their industries...]

Cure...illnesses?

"And what are the requirements for the talent transmigration department to choose them?"

He asked as softly as possible, while the system was still off in her own head introducing herself.

[Huh? Oh! That. We prioritize those who are caught up in major events and have the possibility to change them. That or they have innate talent that cannot fully bloom in their situation. Although for the latter we usually don't transfer them back to their own world.]

It was at this point, where the system suddenly realized that she might have said too much. But when she turned her head to look at the boy, you could practically see the gears turning in his head.

"Then, what if I want to have a system from the talent transmigration department."

With determination in his eyes, the boy looked straight into the system's own eyes. His gaze so strong that the system swallowed her saliva at the proposition she knew he was going to make.

[...Then they must be willing to become pioneers or geniuses in their worlds. Not only that, but they must be willing to possibly devote their lives to their cause. Since they can only leave either a neutral or positive impact.]

The system turned her body to the boy and made a face of concern.

[If you really want to, it's possible. It'll just be incredibly stressful. And there's a chance that you may not succeed the mission intended for the talent in your original world.]

"What is the mission?"

Ignoring the system's concern, the boy hardened the look in his eyes. There would be no turning back for him.

[The mission is to lead your original world to uncover the cause of MDVA, as well as to demolish the MDVA-prevention act. The latter takes priority over the former.]

Moral Deficiency with the tendency for Violent Actions, or more well known as MDVA. The damn illness that has consumed his life after the age of 5, and almost took away his sister from him. If Andrew had arrived even a minute later, he would be all alone in the world.

The boy tightened his fist as pure hatred burned in his eyes.

Although MDVA had allowed him and his sister to meet Andrew, it was still not enough to offset the damage it had caused in his life. And now he finally had a chance to fight back against it.

"I'll take it. I'll become the talent in my world."

Regardless of the cost.

Although that meant living in a world without his sister, he couldn't just give up on the chance to unravel the biggest curse in his life.

[The deadline for the mission will be 5 years after you return back, but that assumes that you created a 'miracle' the moment you return. At your current knowledge, by the time you reach the stage where you can tell the world the cause of MDVA, it would be too late.]

"I'll do it. I'll create a miracle. Just please, give me a chance."

Faced with the hint of tears in his eyes, the system visibly wavered and gave a sigh.

She pulled up her personal terminal and turned the screen to show several books. They were all textbooks, and were hundreds of pages long filled with tiny fonts and complicated jargon that the boy knew he would not understand. Not as he was now.

[For the 20 years you will be living here with your sister, you will have to study all the information related to MDVA. That includes a lot of anatomy, psychology, general science, everything. Because when you return, you have to become headline news. As a genius who was almost buried by the MDVA-prevention act.]

Closing the personal terminal, the system stood from her chair and reached out towards the remote control on the bedside table. She seemed to pause for a while, before she completely accepted the fact that the two of them were going to have their work cut out for them.

[The good thing is, 20 years will be more than enough to learn all of this. So you should also spend the time with your sister and enjoy life in this world together!]

Listening to the system's talk, the boy mimicked the action she did to pull out her personal terminal. And just like with her, his own personal terminal came out.

He could understand the language, but everything else was incredibly foreign to him. The UI, the fonts, everything. It was all so alien-like. So strange.

He curled up his hand in an attempt to squash the yearning for his sister by his side.

"Hello and welcome to the Foodie exploration channel. I am Chef, and today..."

Hearing the familiar voice sounding above his head, he whipped his head up to see a screen in front of him displaying his sister, talking from what was obviously a kitchen.

[My friend told me that your sister would be streaming on Jolt, as part of her own mission. And in Jolt, you can taste her food.

The system leaned over and pressed some buttons. Not that the boy would know since all his attention was focused on the screen in front of him.

Soon, his sister's voice could also be heard from his personal terminal. Shifting his view there, he reached out to the screen to receive the bowl of Red wood clams. It 'felt' hot, and 'smelled' delicious.

'Taking' a 'spoon' provided by the broadcast, he 'scooped' out a little of the 'food' and 'put' it into his mouth.

The moment the 'flavor' hit his tongue, he felt tears well up in his eyes. Although it was an unfamiliar flavor profile, he found some comfort from it having been cooked by his sister.

Crying while eating, the food was soon finished and vanished. There was not even a little trace left. And he couldn't get another serving.

This made him miss his sister more, and he listened to her voice speak out from the speaker of his personal terminal.

[She will probably stream at least once a month, and my friend will definitely tell us when. By then, we would have probably covered the basics of science.]

The system patted the boy's back as his tears slowly came to a stop.

Sniffling, he rubbed away the rest of his tears and looked up at the system

"Thank you. I haven't introduce myself yet. Hello, I'm Oliver."

Oliver reached out his hands for a handshake. Ava smiled as she reached out and shook his hands.

[Nice to meet you Oliver. I am your new system, Ava. I look forward to the next 20 years with you.]