System: Daily login!!, jackpot on the first day!!!

"Ughhhh..."

Taufik woke up clutching his head.

"Uhhh, what's with this headache?"

He said, struggling to recall what he did last night that led to his current state.

But after thinking for a while and didn't find anything, Taufik let out a groan.

"Hahhh~ Anyway, I'm too lazy to remember what I did last night. Not worth it"

Taufik said while massaging his temples because his memories of last night remained annoyingly hazy.

[DING]

A sudden chime rang in his head, which, of course, surprised Taufik.

"Uhh! what the f*ck!"

Taufik was shocked because the sound didn't seem to come from his phone. Instead, it resonated directly in his head.

After a few moments of silence without hearing any more sound, Taufik dismissed it with thoughts.

'... Probably just my imagination. Have I been playing games too much?'

Just as he was about to shrug it off...

[Welcome, user]

"WHAT THE F*CK!!"

Taufik jolted upright. This time, the sound wasn't just a [DING] sound, but the voice of someone was directly speaking inside his head.

"Am I still dreaming?" he muttered, then Slapping his own cheek, he winced.

"Auchh!"

'... It hurts? So, is this not a dream? Then... This just only gets more troublesome *sigh*'

[The system requires user confirmation for immediate binding.]

The voice returned, calm and mechanical.

"..."

"Ugh! I think I should go back to sleep"

Taufik mumbled, lying back in his bed and then pulling the blanket over his head, thinking maybe if he ignored it, it would go away just like that.

But the voice wasn't going anywhere and instead...

[DING]

[Please confirm immediately.]

[DING]

[DING]

[DING]

[DING]

The relentless notifications multiplied, each chime drilling into his already throbbing head, which just made his headache worse.

[Please confirm immediately.]

[DING]

[DING]

"F*CK!! SHUT UP!!" he yelled, throwing the blanket aside.

[Please confirm immediately.]

"...*Ugh!* F*ck... What do you want me to confirm?!" he said in frustration, hoping to silence that annoying noise by following what it wanted to do.

[System binding requires user confirmation]

"... No! I refuse!"

Taufik snapped, immediately rejecting the voice request.

'Binding? Are you kidding me? If I say yes, I'll probably hear that ding-ding sound for the rest of my life. Who wants that?!'

[DING]

[... User request denied]

However, Taufik's refusal was rejected by the voice, which made Taufik immediately fall silent for a while.

"... Denied? Then why ask for confirmation? What is the point?! F*ck! My head..."

Taufik said while massaging his aching forehead, Taufik cursed his situation, But the voice kept ringing, asking for confirmation from Taufik, like a nightmare.

[Please confirm immediately.]

"... What's wrong with this shitty situation of mine? For God's sake! I just want a quiet, peaceful morning... What did I do to deserve this kind of morning?... Haaaah~ Whatever, Fine. You win, let's do whatever you wanted to do, the aftermath? I'll leave it to the future me..."

Said Taufik and then exhaled in resignation.

"Alright, confirm!"

[DING. The user has granted permission]

[Binding in progress: 1%... 30%... 100%]

[Binding complete]

[DING]

[Welcome to the Daily Login System]

"...*Sigh* Troublesome, what a troublesome morning"

Taufik muttered in a low voice and then glared at the translucent screen that appeared before him after the binding process was completed.

"... What is this, a game status?"

Taufik tentatively reached out, to try to knock on the thing in front of him.

*Knock! Knock! Knock!*

'... Huh? This thing can be touched?'

Taufik asked in confusion as he didn't expect it to make a sound because his hands got through that blue transparent screen, which meant this thing was untouchable, but...

*Knock! Knock! Knock!*

"... Huh?"

Amid the confusion, united with the headache that still lingers and the absurdity of the current situation, came his mother's voice from outside the door, which immediately made Taufik realize where the knocking sound came from.

"Fik, are you okay?"

"Ahh~ Yeah, I'm fine, Mom!"

Taufik replied to his mother's question, scrambling to sound normal.

"I heard you were yelling. Are you sure everything's okay?"

"... Yeah, it's... It's just... a cockroach, nothing to worry about"

His mother, however, wasn't buying her son's answers. With the door creaked open, she entered her son's room with a stern look.

"... How many times have I told you to take the garbage out?"

She said, scolding her son who was very lazy even just to throw out the trash.

"..."

Finding his reason doesn't work, Taufik could only say.

"... Sorry, Mom. I forgot. For some reason, I was... really sleepy last night"

"Yeah~Yeah~ You and your excuses" she huffed. "Now hurry up, wash your face, and come down for breakfast. You don't want to be late for school, right?"

Hearing his mother mention about school jolted his memory.

"... Ahh~ so it was this day, the holidays are over, and today is the first day to go back to school... Alright, I'll be there in a minute, Mom"

Satisfied with her son's answers, she left her son's room with a final reminder about the garbage.

Hearing that, Taufik could only sigh but still take the trash out because Mother's order is 'Mostly' absolute, after all.

"What a drag..."

--------

There were only two of them in that quiet kitchen with only the sound of the spoon touching the plate being heard.

Taufik's mother had raised him alone ever since his father's death, a tragedy that struck when Taufik was still in elementary school.

His father was a soldier, not a man of high rank, but his modest Benefits from The Survivor Benefit Plan (SBP) program that provides financial support to the surviving spouses and children of military members who die while on duty or after retirement had been enough to support their small family.

The circumstances of his father's death were shrouded in mystery. Officially, he died on a mission along with his team, but it wasn't the kind of perilous task one might imagine, with no daring battles against rebels and no dramatic hostage rescues. It was just an escort mission, a mission to guard a team of researchers investigating an ancient civilization in the frigid desolation of Antarctica.

But then, one day, the research team vanished without a trace, disappeared as if they were swallowed by the earth.

The camp was found eerily untouched, their tents still standing, scattered equipment left behind, but no sign of life.

Search teams combed the icy expanse for months, yet they uncovered nothing, not a clue, not a body.

In the end, the missing were declared dead, their fate a chilling enigma that left their loved ones adrift in unanswered questions.

The news shattered Taufik's mother's heart.

She refused to accept it at first, clinging to hope and embarking on her own desperate search for answers. But months turned into years, and she didn't see a light in her search.

Slowly and reluctantly, she began to accept reality and let go of the search for her husband, turning her focus to taking care of the one thing her husband had left behind, the fruits of their love, and that was Taufik, their only son.

When Taufik was in the sixth grade, he had asked his mother about his father several times, but her answers had been halting and uncertain. It wasn't that she didn't want to tell the truth to him, but she didn't know how to explain a 'thing' that even she didn't fully understand to her son.

As the years passed, Taufik stopped asking. He came to understand, in the quiet way children sometimes do, and asked again.

--------

After breakfast, Taufik began preparing to leave for school.

Today was the first day back after a long holiday, and Taufik, of course, was determined not to be late.

Taufik was a second-year high school student, and in a few months, if nothing 'big' happened, he would be advancing to the third grade.

"... Mom, I'm off to school"

Taufik said, bidding his mother farewell.

"Yeah, be careful"

His mother replied absentmindedly because she also focused on getting ready for work.

With his mom's parting words in mind, Taufik hurried out of the house.

On the way to school, he suddenly remembered the peculiar 'thing' he'd got this morning.

"Uh... With what should I call you?... System?" he muttered, unsure how to address the mysterious thing he just got.

[Yes, Master]

"Oh~ so 'System' then... Alright, first, explain yourself. What are you, and how do you work?"

[I am what you can call your assistant, designed to help you utilize the plug-in you've received]

"Hmm, sounds interesting. Now, what's that 'daily login system' you mentioned earlier?"

[The daily login system is a feature where the Master receives random rewards each day. These gifts can range from mediocre to god-level items, all depending on the Master's luck]

Said The system, remained flat and monotone, yet its words intrigued Taufik.

"God-level items?" Taufik asked with his excitement growing.

[Yes, Master. These items can include things like bloodlines, artifacts, pets, and many more]

"Bloodlines? Like those superheroes in movies who gain superpowers from their lineage?"

Taufik asked again, imagining the possibilities, which, of course, thrilled him.

[Yes, Master]

"Wow, that's incredible! Then what are you waiting for? I feel lucky today. Let's see if I can get something cool. What do I need to do?"

[Simply say "LOGIN" Master]

Answers the System, still with a monotone tone.

"LOGIN!"

As soon as he uttered the word, a glowing box covered in question marks materialized before him. Its colors shifted rapidly before settling into a radiant gold hue, which made Taufik's heart race in exception.

'... I don't know why, but I feel like I just hit the jackpot...'

....

...

..

.