SWEET MARIA

Maria noticed Fang's confused expression and couldn't help herself and laughed at him. Her laugh was sweet and gentle fully displaying her mature and elegant charms which made Fang even more surprised making his expression even weirder.

Maria was a smart wolf so she could easily figure out what was in Fang's heart and replied to his questions before he could even ask it," judging by your expression I can easily tell that you're wondering how you can understand what I'm saying, but don't fret about it cause you already possess the answer inside for soul," Maria walked closer to Fang but every time she took a step forward Fang's body would instinctively take two steps backwards which annoyed her every much.

Maria was a very sweet woman but she only had a single flaw to her personality and that was her bad temper which was both unreasonable and unpredictable. Under the influence of her annoyance, she leapt onto Fang, but her weight was too much for Fang's weak body to handle causing him to fall on his back as Maria's heavy front paws were placed on his chest that was covered by mysterious bandages that Fang had not given himself the time to check out.

Fang's chest that had been pierced through and almost caused his death was now suffering under the weight of Maria's paws which caused Fang's mind to go blank as he thought of the intense pain from his chest in fear of Maria's paws re-opening his bandaged wound. Maria who was not using her mind at the moment lightly tapped at the centre of Fang's chest as she opened her mouth," the answer is inside you, but to be more specific it's inside your soul which should've already bonded with something called the system that'll help you survive in this cruel place."

After speaking Maria's face revealed a sweet smile that made her look so innocent to the point of being unable to even hurt a fly as her paw kept patting Fang's chest. After a while, her paw eventually landed on the spot where Fang's injury was by pure accident. Originally Fang's injury was so severe that no one besides the system could heal it, but the system also had its limitations so it had to come up with a backup plan and what that plan was Fang was about to find out.

When Maria's paw landed on his injury Fang's mind that was awaiting the excruciating pain was stunned by the lack of pain coming from his chest area. Both Fang and Maria exchanged shocked expressions because this was too surprising since they both expected Fang to be in a lot of pain, but contrary to their expectations nothing happened. When she touched his injury Fang felt nothing but Maria felt that something was wrong with his chest, and Fang wanted to know the reason why his chest felt normal even though he was injured so he requested Maria to help him remove the bandage.

Maria was more than happy to oblige since she was also curious but didn't want to remove the mysterious cloth that covered Fang's chest, so after being given permission she used one of her claws to cleanly slice the bandage into two separate pieces and awaited to see the condition of his injury.

Under the white bandages there laid a dark hollow see-through hole that was the colour of the abyss right where Fang's injury used to be. Seeing the large injury that had decreased into a fist-sized hollow hole that was placed just a bit higher from the centre of his chest made Fang want to cry. Maria was also surprised to see the hole in Fang's chest and couldn't resist the urge to poke a finger through it, and just as she thought the finger passed right through the hole on Fang's chest which verified that it wasn't some illusion skill.

Fang's mind was chaotic as multiple questions filled his thought and after a minute of panic which caused cold sweat to flow down his face like a waterfall, but then out of nowhere a notification sounded in his mind and a short text appeared on the 'system' that had saved him before.

DING!...

[HOST MENTAL STATE HAS REACHED A DANGEROUS LEVEL]

[CALCULATING MEASURES TO BE TAKEN]

[SOLUTION FOUND: HOST CAN ASK A SINGLE QUESTION TO THE SYSTEM AND DEPENDING ON THE DEGREE OF THE QUESTION THE SYSTEM WILL DECIDE WHETHER TO ANSWER IT OR NOT]

Fang's mind instantly turned back to normal when he read that last text and began to ponder about what he should ask,' Although the system is allowing me to ask it a question it also mentioned that the question itself shouldn't be high class or else I'll gain nothing from this opportunity, but the only questions I have should all be classified as a high class so what should I ask?' fleeting thoughts passed Fang's mind but he rejected all of them and after a while of thinking he lowed his head then caught a glimpse of the hole on his chest and a bright light flashed through his eyes,' that's it! I'll ask it about this bizarre hole in my chest.

After making his decision Fang's gaze fell upon the light blue hollow graphic screen and spoke to it inside his head,' I'd like to know why there's a hole in my chest.'

[HOST'S QUESTION HAS BEEN RECEIVED]

[CALCULATING APPROPRIATE ANSWER]

[....]

Fang's expression twisted greatly as he saw the dreaded loading screen that he despised so much before his eyes fell upon Maria who was trying her best to wait patiently for Fang to finish whatever he was doing then bombard him with pointless questions. When Maria saw that Fang was staring at her she immediately got excited at the thought of finding out what caused such a strange phenomenon to occur to Fang's body, but before she can say anything Fang immediately crushed her excitement with a single sentence."

"Before you ask me anything just know that I still don't know anything"

"Wha...but, but, but I also wanna know"

"What're you talking about!? how dare you say that in Infront of me as if I don't care about this whole situation and in case you haven't noticed I'm the one who's been turned into a doughnut!"

"Hey brat cool down a bit cause that's not a way to talk to your elders."

"From the moment I laid eyes on you, I don't even remember you acting like an elder."

Fang was irritated by the system and its ridiculous loading time not to mention Maria's overwhelming curiosity which was the worst thing that he wanted to hear right here, but his temper was getting worse by the second until he heard a notification sound in his mind causing his emotions to make a complete 180° turn.

DING!..

[ANSWERING HOST'S QUESTION ABOUT THE HOLE IN HIS CHEST]

[AFTER THE HOST SUSTAINED A MORTAL INJURY DURING THE BATTLE AGAINST THE BEAST HYBRID THE SYSTEM HAD TO USE ITS BACKUP PROCEDURES TO HEAL AND REVIVE THE HOST]

'And what were those backup procedures of yours?'

[SYSTEM REQUESTS THAT HOST VIEWS HIS STATUS SCREEN TO FIND THE ANSWER TO HIS QUESTION]

Fang was confused regarding the strange words that were written by the system and he knew deep in his hurt that the only person who can help him at this moment was the female White Wolf Maria who was currently pouting or at least doing something that resembled pouting since it was hard to tell because she was a wolf.

Maria sneaked a glance at Fang's face and could tell from his hesitant eyes that he wanted something from her but after what he said to her he was now too embarrassed to ask for her help so she decided to play along.

"Well since you don't need me for anything I'll take my leave first, so feel free to go wherever you want since this is also your home now." Maria slowly turned around before walking away at a slow and steady pace leaving Fang shocked at how thick that women's skin was.

Fang had spent a lot of time with Xiao Ling so he naturally knew what Maria was after. Fang clenched his hands and ground his teeth before uttering the words that Maria wanted to hear the most.

"W-wait!" Fang was embarrassed beyond all measure causing his arms to slightly tremble but the good thing is that after embarrassing himself Maria halted her steps and turned her head towards him.

"Oh! Do you perhaps need something," Maria's expression had completely changed into one of an all-knowing goddess as she stared at a Fang as if he was one of her worshipers which greatly annoyed Fang even further?

"Y-yes I do re-require some assistance" Fang's voice was so shaky that it was almost inaudible and if not for her sharp senses Maria wouldn't have been able to hear what Fang said at all.

"I see... well I'll give you a tiny shred of my knowledge so you better make sure you can comprehend it," every time Maria spoke Fang felt like he would puke a mouthful of blood.

"All I need is for you to inform me about how to access my status screen," Maria almost blew a fuse as she couldn't help but laugh at the ignorant creature that stood before her and now that she took a clear look at his she noticed that he does resemble a monkey. After a few minutes of laughing, she calmed herself down and told Fang what to do.

"it's pretty simple all that you need to do is focus and call out its name and if you can find one you have to name it yourself," Maria explained to Fang with a casual demeanour without a shred of the teacher's aura.

Fang was shocked at how simple it was then focused his consciousness onto his soul that was wrapped in a pitch-black chain that seemed to be pretty ancient as if they were from the primordial era. Fang's soul was a light blue flame that was about the size of an average adult man's palm, and inside it was nothing but a large blue sky that covered the heavens which led him to assume that he needed to name his system.

After much consideration, Fang finally thought of a name and a notification appeared in front of his eyes?

DING!...

[IS THE HOST CERTAIN ABOUT THE CHOSEN NAME FOR THE SYSTEM: REMINDER (SYSTEM NAME CAN NOT BE CHANGED OR UNDONE IN THE FUTURE)]

[YES/NO]

Fang didn't need to think much and pressed the 'yes' option

[NAMING SUCCESSFUL]

[SYSTEM'S NAME HAS BEEN CHANGED INTO HEAVEN'S WILL SYSTEM: PLEASE CALL OUT YOUR SYSTEM'S NAME TO ACCESS IT]

Fang read the last message and focused his mind on activating the status screen and after a few failed attempts his hard work pained off.

[HEAVEN'S WILL SYSTEM STATUS SCREEN ACTIVATED]

....

Authors note: I will refer to Fang's clan members as he/she and not it to build up a nice bond with them