Unknown System

The girl simply tied a knot to connect both ends of the ribbon and secured it beneath the collar of her shirt. She then kept her previously worn dress into the now-empty bag before unlocking the door

The moment she stepped foot out of the toilet stall, the girl was greeted by a large mirror. She took another step forward and observed her reflection on the crystal clear mirror.

"Messy hair..." She said as she scratched her head, only to realize she was making it worse. "Itchy..."

She headed for the sink and twisted the tap open before placing her hands in the flowing water. She then splashed some water onto her face in an attempt to follow someone who did the same just seconds ago.

"This is refreshing," the girl hummed and brought her hand to her head to scrub her scalp.

Moments passed until she was finally done, leaving the lavatory with her hair tangled in a mess. After all, she didn't have a comb to fix it.

Moving on, the girl headed to who-knows-where and eventually stopped by a salon. The glass door reflected the mess she was in alongside the emotionless face of hers. She swept her hair a little but it wasn't any better.

A sigh escaped her lip, not noticing the chime of a bell.

"How can I help you, lass?"

The girl lifted her head to meet the owner of the voice. She was a dazzling woman who captivated the hearts of many who just happened to be passing by her store.

"You're a mess. Come, let me help you," the beautician gestured for her to enter her store. Not knowing the meaning of her words, the girl just nodded and followed as instructed.

Everything was done in no time. It only took a few snips here and there before the beautician placed a mirror behind the girl, allowing her to see what the back of her head looked like through the reflection.

"Looks good, don't you think?"

The beautician gave a pat on the girl's shoulder, indicating she was done. A smile tweaked up the girl's lips as she thanked her. As to the question of where she learned to thank someone, it was from a customer that had just left not long ago.

The girl rose to her feet as the beautician led her to the door.

"Come back again sometime~"

The bell on the door chimed as she left the salon, walking towards a direction unknown to her and spoon, she found herself in the woods. Out of a sudden, a screen materialized out of thin air before her with words displayed on it. Surprisingly enough, she was able to read it fluently.

***

[Entering Spricity, the capital city of Dewtown...]

***

It was then she knew, she was at the border of the city. Curious, she took another step forward and the next moment, the words on the screen changed.

***

[Current Location: Spricity, Dewtown.]

***

Her eyes lit up at the sight. The system has piqued her interest.

The girl moved her feet and sat by a tree, wanting to explore more of what she had just discovered.

There was nothing else displayed on the screen other than her current location. She tapped on the screen lightly and it responded with another message.

***

[Shelter nearby: 100m away]

[Description: The house of a prodigy who has lived for centuries.]

***

The word 'prodigy' was familiar to her. As she relaxed her hand to think where she heard the term from, she accidentally activated the function to minimize the system.

"So I just need to swipe my hand downwards and it disappears?" It was more like a statement than a question to no-one in particular.

Leaning her back on the tree trunk, the girl relaxed her muscles after her long and tiring journey. It was getting late and the sky had taken on an orange hue with pink clouds swirling around dramatically.

It was then when she felt her head hurting as if something had struck her.

"Argh!" She yelped.

The next moment, images of colored liquids filled her mind, causing the girl to rub her temples in an attempt to ease herself. It was useless, unfortunately.

Memories of her past life began to return.

Although blurry, it was enough for the girl to remember what her life was back then before she was a human.

From the factory to a box, then sent to a convenience store by a truck. The box was cut open, revealing various others that looked just like herself. A young boy begged his mother to get him a bottle and the next moment she knew, she was already in one of his collections.

She was a carbonated drink; the carbonated drink that was abandoned by the young boy. What was his name again?

The girl went deep into her thoughts and dug up memories from the depths of her mind. "Gravius," she blurted out unintentionally.

She swiped her hand in the air, hoping to see the system again and it did, displaying the same words as before.

"Could he be the 'prodigy' mentioned here?" She scoffed. "No, that can't be. He's nowhere near being a prodigy, but an arrogant kid who thinks highly of himself just because he knows a little magic."

The thought of being a carbonated drink gave her nostalgic feelings. Back then, she didn't need to worry about anything. People buy them and drink them until they're satisfied, and she was ready to meet her fate, if not for Gravius who decided to keep her alive with him until today.

"How bothersome," she clicked her tongue and crossed her arms.

Gazing at the night sky, the moon was already starting to climb its way up as the girl got on her feet. She really should look for a place to stay the night before a bear ambushes her.

The GPS led her to a run-down house with weeds surrounding the area and the walls looked like they would crumble if someone were to nudge it. The girl gulped down her fear and continued to move forward. A roof is still better than none, right?

She barely made her way up the stairs and pushed the unlocked door open, revealing an interior that was familiar to her.

Papers scattered on the wooden floor, shelves of recipe books, various kinds of unfinished potion mixture and most importantly, a mixing pot.

That much was enough for her to confirm her assumptions, and the appearance of the owner himself was just an addition of evidence.

She was in none other than Gravius' house.

…

Back to the present, Gravius was still staring at the girl, awaiting her response. She blinked and briefly told him the summary of her journey.

"So I was just roaming around and uh, came across your place and thought I could stay here for the night or something."

Gravius choked on his non-existent water and let out a cough before turning his head back to her, repeating her words to make sure his ears weren't playing a trick on him.

"Yes, that's what I said."