Chapter Four: Temporary Separation And The Family

When Mine and Joe's clothes were clean enough we left the public stall and then I started heading back towards my house, while Joe told me he would find himself a place to stay.

Which I was grateful for, my family wasn't well off. My Ma was on the dole, and my sister was a year younger than me and had no job, while I couldn't seem to get a job either.

We had enough money to 'live', but we weren't really 'living'. As people would say. Which basically meant that we couldn't do what other better off people did, such as get a car, just leave the town to go somewhere else for fun and stuff like that.

That didn't mean I was unhappy, yeah we couldn't do what other people did and if we could we couldn't do it as often as they did, but I was still happy with what I had.

It wasn't like we didn't have up to date phones, or no television and stuff. We had them, we just have the newest phone, or a giant 4K tv.

But… Although it was a long shot, I could possibly use this system to get money, whether that be through illegal means or not. I mean, I did order an execution, which although I'm not one hundred percent sure… I think that's a crime.

You know, it's weird. Ever since I've got the system I've haven't stopped thinking about the possibilities the future could hold. But just a week ago I wasn't even thinking about the future.

I then heard a little ding, well not a ding so to say. But it felt like something just… 'dinged' inside of my head. Which was a little weird.

I then turned my attention to the system, coming to the natural conclusion that it couldn't have been anything else.

[Mission: Find out who is blackmailing your sister and stop them!

Description: Your sister has been acting weird around you lately and when you went to give her a hug after she came home looking shaken up, she pushed you off of her and started to have a panic attack. But you managed to calm her down and she fell asleep soon after. After that you took her phone and found out she was being blackmailed by somebody. Stop the person or people doing this by any means you deem necessary!

Rewards:

- 2 levels

- Random item

- Saving your sister

- Satisfaction of hurting the one who blackmailed her

Failure conditions:

- Not figuring out who did it

- Not doing enough to stop it from happening even if you find the person or people

- Being stopped before you can do anything

Completed: Well done, you have completed your first mission and have gone above and beyond what you were tasked with! Because of this your rewards have been updated.

New rewards:

- 2 levels

- 2 random items

- Saved your sister

- Satisfaction of hurting the one who blackmailed her]

Well, now I know what the 'ding' was about. And each of the things the system said it rewarded me with was true. Although I don't think the satisfaction came from the system.

[Status:

Name: Jayden Zephaniel

Age: 16

Gender: male

Level: 03

Mana: 30

Strength: 7

Agility: 9

Dexterity: 8

Endurance: 7

Stat points: 4

Skill points: 4

Skills: (N/A) and

Magic:(N/A)

Items: (summon tickets X10), (command seals X5), (summon random items X2)]

From what I remember my stats were lower than that before. I think each of them went up by two? So then that means for each level my stats go up by one, although the mana goes up by ten each time. That's a good thing to know.

[New Mission: Announce yourself to the world and other system users!

Description: The system has the ability to allow system users to communicate with each other should they wish to. It also shows them their true names, titles, age, gender, etc. Although it is only required to enter your title. You have to do this mission and it can not be dismissed if not completed in a day. The system will show all information whether the user wants to or not.

Rewards:

- Communication with other system users. (Although this might not be a reward, you can block the other system user from communicating with you if you chose to.)

- 1 level

Failure conditions:

- Not completing the mission in the '23:58:37' time limit shown.]

Well, I wouldn't consider the first reward, an actual reward. But the second one would be.

But I had no choice but to complete it, I didn't want all my information out there, if it was then my family would be in danger. And I just got my sister out of danger, I wasn't about to put her back into a position where she could be hurt again.

I looked a bit at the mission and it showed my options of what to show. I, of course, decided to play it super safe, and chose only to show my title.

Of course I didn't have a title, like the others did, but the system let me choose some for myself.

Some of them were, 'Summoner', 'Summoner of Legends and Myths', 'Seventh System User' and some other titles.

But I just chose 'Summoner', 'Seventh System User' and then it let me choose another personal title that the others could refer to me as.

So, while still walking home, I thought about it. There were many names that came to mind, although most of them were video game characters.

But eventually I came up with one that sounded cool, and was… sort of a legend. 'Osiris'. It sounded cool in my opinion, so I didn't really care what others thought.

After I selected my titles the screen of the system changed into something called, 'System user communications'.

[System user communications:

First System User:

John Westford:

- Alias: [Sword God]

- Age: 27

- Gender: male

Second System User:

Alexander von Rontingburg:

- Alias: [Hiding Heaven]

- Age: 35

- Gender: male

Third System User:

??? ???:

- Alias: [The Eclipsed]

- Age: ???

- Gender: female

Fourth System User:

Yeliseyeva Marfa Ivanovna:

- Alias: [The Leader], [The Charmer]

- Age: 30

- Gender: female

Fifth System User:

Jochen Wagenseil:

- Alias: [The Boss], [The Big Boss], [The Iron-Fist]

- Age: 40

- Gender: male

Sixth System User:

Endou Yorichika:

- Alias: [The Magical Blacksmith], [The God Of The Smith]

- Age: 25

- Gender: male

Seventh System User:

??? ???:

- Alias: [Summoner], [Seventh System User], [Osiris]

- Age: ???

- Gender: ???]

And then these were the other system users. It was actually a little scary to think that I was one of these guys now.

I wasn't them, but I was like them. I had a system, but I would never become them.

It was also surprising to see how old Jochen was. People knew he was old, but never how old.

Now that they know about me I have to find a way to get stronger, but I'm not sure how.

But I'll figure that out later, right now I want to get home to my sister.

I was only at my house while trying to figure out what to talk about to her, and what to tell our Ma, not just about what my sister was going though but with me being a new system user.

But the second part could stay a secret, I didn't want anyone knowing about it, especially not now. It was still early in this… 'game' that would be going on between me and the other system users.

I didn't want to, or have any plans to, join their 'sides' or 'teams'. So if they began looking for me and I had to hide, it would sort of be like a game to them, with how strong they are.

But with the… 'stuff' that happened to my sister… I would let her decide what should be told to our Ma. I knew I should probably tell her everything that happened to her, or at least what I knew about, but I for some reason felt like I should let her make the decision.

Of course if it affects her even though I've dealt with the main problem, then I will tell our Ma, even if she tells me not to.

So after spending most of the day out in town and not telling them where I was going I finally came back home.

I could already imagine Ma nagging me about going out and not telling her. It was annoying sometimes but it was nice to know that she actually cared.

So when I came back into my estate, I walked across the green* to my house. I usually walked in the path and not across the green but I was actually excited to get home to my family.

So when I finally got back to the house I checked the door and it was unlocked so I went in and walked into the house, closing the door behind me. I was trying to be quiet, but my door seemed to have other plans, making the gears in it sound extra loud.

"Is that you Jay?!" She shouted from inside the house. Judging from the echo of it she was inside the kitchen, which made me feel a little hungry just thinking about it getting close to dinner.

"Yeah!" I said back, properly closing the door no longer being quiet. I took off my shoes at the door because they were wet.

I walked into the dining room and saw that she was putting stuff onto a pan for the oven.

"Be quieter will you, you know the neighbours will hear you if you shout. No need to give them gawkers anything more to talk about." I said to her as I watched her put the food in the oven before turning it on.

She just nodded her head before taking out her phone and talking to me. "So, where were you? I thought you would have told me if you were leaving." She asked me.

I just shook my head with a little huff before answering. "A few 'friends' wanted to hang out. They texted me early and you all were still asleep, didn't want to wake you up." I walked up beside her and opened the press behind her head and took out a cup.

She looked at me a little weirdly at the way I said 'friends', but didn't question. She moved out of the way when she saw me getting a cup and walked into the dining room and took a seat at the table.

While I got some diluted juice from the fridge she put down her phone and scratched her head. "Here, can you go talk with your sister. She's been acting weird and you'll get more out of her than I will." She asked me, in a pleading sort of way. Although she talked in a hushed tone of voice as my sister was only up the stairs and like I said before, the walls in this house are thin.

I paused a little before continuing making juice. "Really? Since when?" I asked curiously. I of course knew what was wrong with her, but I wanted to know how long she thinks this has been going on for.

A picture could only show what had happened, not when it happened. And I had thrown Hugo's phone into a hiding spot for future use in case I needed it.

My Ma shook her head a little thinking. Her brows creased in thought before she answered. "A month? Maybe a bit more, I'm not sure." She said in a questioning tone, she herself not knowing how long it had been.

I on the other hand had already put the mug of diluted juice back in the fridge and had my cup of juice. I was facing away from her when she said that.

I paused my movements and just leaned over the counter. My hands were clenched in anger as my eyes were closed in frustration.

That long? And I didn't know? I had let her suffer all this time… she had been calling out to me for help… Hugo even said so… I was a terrible brother! Not even being able to tell that my sister was suffering… until a month later?!

I just wanted to lash out in frustration. I was mad. Not just at Hugo and everyone else that wronged her, but at myself. I only noticed her suffering because the facade she put up had been let down for a second.

If only I had paid more attention! I'm sure I could have stopped it sooner if I did.

"Hey." My Ma said as she put a hand on my shoulder. I had to stop myself from flinching or having a violent reaction to that. "You okay?" She asked worriedly.

I bit my lip at that question. I was fine, it was your daughter that wasn't. But I was too stupid enough to notice. "... yeah. Just thought of something that bothered me a little, but it's grand now." I reassured her as I picked up another cup from the press and split the juice in my cup between them.

My Ma had let go of my shoulder by now and was now just sitting at the table waiting.

"I'm going to talk to Freya." I said as I took the two cups and walked up the stairs.

When I reached the top I saw her room. She wasn't right at the top of the stairs but in a smaller room at the front of the house upstairs.

Her door wasn't decorated in any way and was only painted a boring plain white.

I walked up the door and elbowed it softly twice, but hard enough that she could hear me if she had earphones in. "Hey, it's me. Can you open the door? My hands are full."

It was silent for a second before her sweet and soft voice rang out. "...yeah."