System
"COCKADOODLE DOO!"
William covered his ears groggily and covered his head with a blanket. Couldn't that stupid rooster wake him up later?
"COCKADOODLE DOO!"
He groaned, uncovering his ears.
"I get it, can you just let me sleep a little longer!?!" He shouted.
"COCKADOODLE DOO!"
"...That's it."
Fuming, William jumped out of bed and ran out the door to his backyard.
"COCKADOODLE-"
"SHUT UP!!!"
"..." (⊙⊳⊙)
Grabbing the rooster by its neck, he grabbed it off the perch it was standing on and put it on the ground. He pressed his hands against both sides of its head and made it look at him.
"Look," he said slowly, trying to communicate to the rooster, "you want to stay in my yard. That's fine. But waking me up at 6 in the morning? That's not cool. Okay?"
Rooster: (´･◇･`)?
Shaking his head, William stood up. There was no point in talking to this dumb thing.
He went back inside and took a piece of bread off a shelf before he walked outside. He sat down on a chair next to the door and chewed at his breakfast.
He had come to this world for 13 years now, but there was nothing special about him. No system, special skills or legendary artifacts. Weren't reincarnators supposed to have at least one of those?
Still, living in a rural village like this was still better than continuing to do the job he had before. He hated being in a crappy restaurant where all the customers complained about the bad food and yelled at him to fix all their problems, and the difference between that and the simple work he did now was like the difference between heaven and earth.
Speaking of differences, this world was quite different from his old world. Rather than pursuing technology, the people of this world instead cultivated. And not the kind about taking care of a garden. By absorbing a kind of energy called spiritual power, which was in the very air he was breathing, they could temper their own physical bodies and do what would seem like magic in his old world. It wasn't strange to see people flying in the sky or doing mystical spells like shooting fireballs from their fingers. Those who could do such things were called cultivators. In fact, his village also had some, but they were only in the first realm of cultivation, the spirit foundation realm. Plus, they were still very weak, as the guard captain was only at the fifth stage of the realm and the rest were all at the fourth stage or below.
Suddenly remembering that he had to feed the rooster, William got out of the chair and went to the backyard. He grabbed a handful of grains from a bag in the corner. Crouching down, he called the rooster over.
"Oi, you!"
It walked over, looking at him with its beady eyes.
He stretched out his hand to the rooster.
"Eat."
Without hesitation, the rooster started eating out of his hand, gobbling down the grains as fast as it could.
William looked at it gorging itself on the food HE had bought. He sighed.
"When will you finally give me something besides a lack of sleep? Maybe you should contribute some of your flesh for lunch?"
The rooster completely ignored him, continuing to eat.
William rolled his eyes. What a freeloader. Not that he could bear to do such a thing. That rooster had stayed with him ever since it wandered into his backyard, and he had known it since a few years ago.
Sighing, he dropped the rest of the grains in front of it and left.
"Eat up. I don't want to see a starving chicken when I get back."
As he left the house, he heard a voice calling him.
"Hey, William! Good morning!"
William turned and saw a lean old man with a cane coming towards him.
"Good morning, Mr. Snider!"
The two walked side by side, conversing.
"So, what woke you up this morning?" William asked.
"I just decided to go for a walk to move these old bones a bit. But it sounds like you're having a bad morning," Mr. Snider replied.
William shrugged. "You know how it is with that rooster. Always up in the wee hours of the morning just to annoy me."
The old man just smiled.
The pair eventually reached a large farm, which had several people hard at work, some of which were around William's age. Several of them noticed William and Mr. Snider and waved.
William waved back, and Mr. Snider gave each of them a curt nod.
Mr. Snider walked towards a bench underneath the shelter of a wooden shed, and William followed since he wanted to talk for a little longer before he got to work.
"Why do you go to the farm every morning anyway? It's not like there is anything you need to do," William asked.
"Walking here is good exercise. Besides, I won't have to stay in that depressing wooden hut with no people inside." Mr. Snider replied.
William conversed with the old man a little longer before he set to work, watering the plants and caring for the farm. Honestly, it was just constant, repetitive work, but it was still very exhausting to do.
…
Several hours later, he collected a few copper coins from a village's "bank", a wooden hut with some guards surrounding it, as payment. Then, he headed home.
He walked inside his hut and lay down on the bed. All that farming had made him tired. After a brief break, he stood back up. There were still a few hours to go until the sun started to set, so William went to go check on the rooster.
"Ding! A new host has been found. Activating system functionalities!"
A robotic female voice resounded in William's ear, but to him, it was the most beautiful thing that he had ever heard. Was his system finally here?!?
William tried to calm down. After all, as a reincarnator, it was expected of him to get a system. It was just a matter of when.
"System, what functionalities do you have?"
"Currently, you can view your status panel, and see the Infinite Inventory."
William was already confused. The status panel probably told him his current information, like his strength and whatnot. On the other hand, what was an infinite inventory?
"Show me the Infinite Inventory."
A panel suddenly appeared in front of him. It looked like a generic inventory in a video game, except for one thing.
"…Why is there only one slot unlocked?"
The inventory had hundreds of slots and yet only one was usable.
"You currently have one infinite slot. You will have to pay to unlock more."
"Pay with what? The coins in my hand?"
"The system uses a different currency, which can be gained by completing quests or achievements."
"Then how do I look at those?"
"Quests have not yet been unlocked, and you cannot view the achievements. They will be unlocked after you place an item in your first infinite slot."
"Can I just put anything in it?"
"Anything you touch can be placed in an infinite slot. Just say or think in your head, "Place this object in my inventory."
William looked at the copper coins in his hand.
"Put the copper coins in my inventory!"
Nothing changed, but the inventory slot he had now showed an image of a copper coin.
"What does this infinite slot do, anyway?"
"You can get infinite of anything you put in it."
William's eyes glowed. He did think of this when he heard the name, but it seemed it was really true! He could already imagine himself swimming in piles of gold coins.
Suddenly, he paused. Surely, such a great power would have some restrictions?
"There is a cooldown after you copy an object." A robotic voice abruptly interrupted his thinking.
"Can you read my thoughts or something?" William had no other explanation as to why the system could respond to questions he didn't even ask.
"Yes, I can 'read your thoughts or something'."
William immediately felt insecure.
"Can you see my memories too!?"
"Don't worry, there wasn't much to see."
William opened his mouth to object, but eventually just sighed. There was nothing he could do about it anyway. He decided to get over it and just ask about the cooldown.
"What's the cooldown for a copper coin?"
"1 second."
"Then what would be the cooldown for a silver coin?"
"1 minute 40 seconds, or 100 seconds."
William could see a pattern. One hundred copper coins were worth one silver coin, and in the system, a silver coin had a cooldown one hundred times longer than the cooldown of the copper coins.
"How do I take out a copper coin?"
"Just imagine one appearing in your hand."
William did as he was told and saw a copper coin suddenly appear in his hand. He looked at the inventory panel and saw a timer on the image of the copper coin. After 1 second, it disappeared, and William could get another one.
"Won't this be really slow and tedious? Every second, I'll need to take one out. And no matter what, I'll still only get one coin once I collect it. In this way, I'll need to collect it every second, so I don't waste any possible profits."
"That's just how it is."
"Isn't there some way to automate this?"
"You need to pay for that."
"…Of course I do."
William thought about this. Rather than collecting a copper coin every second, wouldn't it be easier if he got a silver coin instead? That way, he wouldn't have to collect it as often and waste so much time. He didn't have anything to lose.
"You need to pay to replace the item in the slot."
William was shocked. Did everything in this system need money?
"Yes."
"...Can you stop reading my thoughts?"
"No."
William shook his head helplessly.
"I've at least unlocked the quests now, right?"
"A new quest has been issued! Please check the quest panel for more information."
"A new quest has been issued! Please check the quest panel for more information."
"A new quest has been issued! Please check the quest panel for more information."
"For using your first infinite slot, you have obtained 10 SP!"
William was surprised. Three quests already? And he had gained 10 SP, which was probably the currency that the system was talking about.
"Show me the quests I have."
______________________________
[Quests:]
[System Upgrade]
[Slot Increase]
[Aren't you embarrassed?]
______________________________
William raised an eyebrow. The first two quests sounded pretty normal, but what was up with the third one?
"Tell me more about the quests."
______________________________
[System Upgrade]
[Desc: Upgrade the system for added functionalities!]
[Reward: +1 slot, 25 SP]
[Penalty for Failure: None]
______________________________
[Slot Increase]
[Desc: Add a new slot to your inventory!]
[Reward: 30 SP]
[Penalty for Failure: None]
______________________________
[Aren't you embarrassed?]
[Desc: As the proud owner of a system, how could you not have a single gold coin! Obtain one gold coin or a currency of greater value and replace the copper coin's slot.]
[Reward: +1 slot, 25 SP]
[Penalty for Failure: -1 slot]
[Time limit: 1 month]
______________________________
Besides the last quest, the other two looked doable in a short time, so William decided to do those first. As for the last one, he could just accumulate copper coins and trade them for a gold one at the bank.
He looked at the first quest.
"How do I upgrade the system?" William asked.
"The system is currently at level 1. Upgrading to level two will require 10 SP. Would you like to upgrade the system?"
"Yes."
"Upgrading system. Upgrade time: 10 minutes. System will be unavailable while upgrading."
William decided to go check on the rooster while he waited. He went into the backyard and looked around. Where did it go?
"Rooster?"
"Rustle!"
William noticed the rooster coming out of the bushes holding a shiny blue stone. The stone seemed to glow, and it lit up the surrounding bushes with a light blue tint.
He walked over to look at it, but the rooster suddenly threw the rock into the air above it. William's eyes widened with realization, and he knew what it was going to do.
"Wait! Don't-"
The rooster opened its mouth and tilted its head towards the sky, letting the rock fall in, and it immediately swallowed.
"…Eat it."
William sighed and picked up the rooster, inspecting it. It looked fine, but there was no bulge in its stomach, which was weird. He felt its stomach area and didn't feel anything hard.
"You ate such a big rock and it suddenly disappeared?"
He looked at the rooster more closely. Did this thing have a black hole in its stomach, or was there something weird about that rock?
He shook his head. Whatever. Since nothing happened, he might as well forget about it. The rooster was fine, and that was all that mattered. He set it down and patted its head gently, giving it some more food. Then, he went back indoors.
"Ding! The system has been upgraded to level 2! All cooldown times have been reduced by 5%!"
"[Quest: System Upgrade] has been completed! Rewarding 25 SP and 1 new inventory slot."
"[Quest: Slot Increase] had been completed! Rewarding 30 SP."
William was pleasantly surprised by the lowered cooldown that came with the new level. But he was even happier with the rewards. Just by completing one quest, he had also done another one at the same time, and he now had 55 SP to his name. Plus, he also had an extra inventory slot, and he didn't even have to pay for it.
He thought about how to fill the extra slot. He could just put something like bread inside, but what if he got something like donuts in the future? Wouldn't have still have to replace it in the end?
Speaking of that, what was the replacement cost based on?
"The replacement cost is based on the value of the item you're replacing."
William rolled his eyes. The system was reading his mind yet again. Still, he now had some valuable information.
"How much would it cost to replace the copper coin?"
"1 SP."
William sighed in relief. Luckily, the price to replace it wasn't too absurd. Then again, it was just a copper coin. How could it be worth more than a few SP?
He picked up a piece of bread off his shelf.
"What about this bread?"
"1 SP."
William nodded. The village baker sold these for about one copper, so this seemed about right.
He put the bread in the second slot and took a piece out immediately so he could eat it. Looking out the window, he noticed that the sun was already setting. Finishing the piece of bread, William did his nightly routine before going to bed.
In his dreams, he could faintly see himself sleeping on a shining pile of gold coins...