Only Me Have System

Mia then continues, "Well if that's the case, I guess I shall update your keycard for now. Then you can go explore the city freely, but remember always to return here whenever you feel tired and don't venture out from this city alone."

I then ask what is the use of the keycard as I doubt it was just for my room if it's needed to be updated.

"Oh yes, you're correct. There are many reasons behind having a card. It is just the keycard to track the stats and of course, a way to prove citizen registration. But you don't need to concern yourself with that much, the main purpose of these cards is used as a form of identification to prove that you exist in this world."

She further explains, "For example, if an emergency occurs or if there's trouble, we can contact you using this card. However, even without that function, the cards work perfectly fine as keys to unlock doors and gates throughout the city."

Hmm, it makes sense that it serves as a key to open different areas.

But Mia also explains that certain parts of the city only can be unlocked with certain clearance levels. Which means that I shouldn't try entering places beyond my access.

As Mia finishes explaining, she take my keycard and it glow for a second as she handed it back to me. On it was written the number 1,000 and stated that I was level 1. I was surprised to see that as I thought I was still at level 41.

Erina then stand up and announced, "Now that you've been registered, let's explore the city!"

"Wait a minute..." I then looked at Mia with a curious face, "Before that, what's about the 1000, and why I am being level 1?"

Mia scratched her cheek awkwardly as she answered me.

"Well, it's because the keycard doesn't register your level back in the world. As we couldn't use our system since we are not the player, this is the only way to track our level again. But our stats remain the same as before. Instead, the system registers your level based on the number of experience points gained here."

Huh? So people in this world couldn't access their system anymore? That's why the keycard exists... but I still can access my system. It was a surprise to know about it as I thought everyone here could access their system as this is still the game world after all.

I guess since the deleted character here become much like an NPC, the system was stripped away from them.

Mia continued, "Also, your stats aren't reset due to being deleted, which is why you didn't lose any stat points. But you won't gain any either unless you actively train here. And the 1000 is a currency was something that given to a newcomer to buy stuff here, also-"

When Mia was just about to say something, she paused as she suddenly said that she have been called by others and she needs to attend to them.

She then left the table immediately, leaving Erina and me alone. But before she left, she told Erina to explain the rest of the stuff to me.

"...What's wrong?" I asked Erina out loud, wondering why she suddenly acted strange like that.

Erina responded, "It's simple really, Mia is a part of the one that running this place. Even though her job is to meet with the newcomer, she has other jobs too. Like attending the meeting and giving instructions to the workers in charge of the city maintenance. That's why sometimes, she may appear to be busy as she must deal with urgent matters."

Aha, I understand now. I felt relieved knowing that Mia isn't just ignoring me as she seems to be very busy.

"Then let's get started exploring the city!" Erina said cheerfully as she stands up, leading the way to the exit of the place.

***

We then headed outside and walked toward the center of the city. At first, I had no idea where to go as everything seemed unfamiliar to me, but Erina quickly guide me through the streets.

There was a large building standing tall at the end of the road and there were several small buildings lined up next to each other, creating a row of shops.

On top of the big building, a huge banner hung saying Welcome to the Out of Boundary City. In the middle of the street was a fountain, water splashing into the air as it danced in circles.

Around us were a lot of people walking around, it seems so alive and peaceful even though they are just something similar to an NPC.

"Let's start eating some food first and buy some basic necessities afterward," Erina suggested as she lead me to a shop nearby.

Well Erina is right, I mean I haven't eaten at all, and hunger is an important factor to watch out for as it could make me weak and reduce my stamina by a lot.

But because I know nothing of this place…

I just follow Erina around as I want to see how things work in this place. Even if it's still the same as we are still inside Eternal Souls. Things might work differently here as this place wasn't developed by the developer but by these deleted characters.

Inside the restaurant, I saw a long line of customers waiting to be served.

The person working here seem to be quite busy as he kept moving his hands nonstop while talking with the customers.

The restaurant owner finally noticed me when as he approached me and greeted me warmly. He then explained, "Welcome! We welcome new customers today. Please come over here as I would show you our product, well our newest food item."

I mean new food? But when I saw the menu displayed on the countertop, I found out that most items on the list weren't new. They were just renamed from the original name to make it easier for me to understand. For example, instead of calling it 'Fried Fish', they changed it to Fried Au Shellfish.

That's right, the fish is actually the shell of some kind of crustacean, hence the term 'frying'.

Anyway, I decided to order a bowl of fried au shellfish dish and two cups of tea. After ordering, I sat down on a seat facing the restaurant owner who gave me a questioning look.

He then took a deep breath and began speaking slowly, "Please allow me to introduce myself once more. My name is Kasuke Shaz. Thank you for coming here today."

After introducing himself, he went to the kitchen and talk with his staff about our order. I feel weird that we have somehow gotten special treatment here as the owner of the restaurant himself greet me instead of his employee.

While I'm thinking about that, Erina came near me and whispered softly, "Don't forget to give your feedback later okay?"

Hm? What's she trying to do? Why does she care so much about that anyway? Is it because this guy looks kinda important?

The kitchen door opened and another employee brought a tray containing three bowls of fried seafood. Each of the bowls contained a piece of the same type of shellfish, and they were all placed on a plate together.

Each of the pieces of the shells looked somewhat familiar, but I couldn't recognize its species properly since I haven't seen this kind of creature before.

Kasuke then spoke again, "Thank you for your patience. This is our latest food item, Fried Au Shell. You will find out soon enough that this is indeed the best thing you ever tasted in life."

So he's going to serve it directly to us? No wait, he did mention earlier that he'll cook it for us personally.

However, he was right as I realized that the taste of the shellfish was superb. Its texture was crunchy and tasty, yet the meat was soft and tender.

In fact, the flavor was better than anything else I ate until now. Since the ingredients were fresh and the cooking process was done correctly, the overall taste was simply perfect.

At least, that was my impression after tasting the dishes. I never expected to enjoy such good food in this world.

Once I finished eating the bowl of Fried Au Shell, I raised my hand to signal the owner as Erina did tell me to give my feedback after eating it.

"Yes, please excuse me. How should I put this...? Ahh, I think it's delicious."

The owner smiled happily upon hearing my words. "You got it right! It's true that this is the best thing you could ever taste. Well, I hope that you can bring your friends along next time and try our other foods too." He said that.

Since I enjoyed the food so much, I agreed to come back again someday.