Understanding The System

'K-kill him? Why in the world was that my objective?' And although I had regained control of my body a window popped open into view.

{OBJECTIVE CLEARED}

[Reward of ¨15 EXP¨ Granted]

And with that another wave of bliss washed over me, calming my quick breathing, and slowing my racing heart. My muscles grew tense as I felt my skin twitch and pull.

"W-woah?! Shiloh look at you, man!" Eliza shouted running up to me.

My brow raised as I looked at him. "What do you mean?" I let out softly. He lifted my arm putting it in my face.

"Dude... you weren't skinny but you weren't fuckin' ripped man look." And to my surprise he was right. My arm had grown a bit more vascular and in fact, I felt my uniform tightened ever so slightly around my arm when I bent it.

'Was this from the EXP? Walking away from Eliza I pulled up my system menu.'

[Name: Shiloh Kirchner]

[Level 2]

[EXP 5/15]

[Health: 103/103]

[Mana: 15/15]

[Setting: Hidden]

'I was right. I had leveled up and gotten a physical boost with all my stats upgrading slightly. But how did I complete the objective? It told me to kill Alex, and he was certainly still alive.'

I glanced at him and saw him smiling at Emi who was wincing in pain, holding the side of her body, as he embraced her.

{Want me to tell you?} A system notification appeared in front of me. 'The fuck?' I glanced around before walking away.

"Sure..." I muttered, and with my answer, I felt the energy leave my knees. my vision darken, and my body hit the floor.

After opening my eyes I noticed I was once again in that dark abyss. The chill of the wind grazed my skin, my breathing rushed as I closed my eyes and waited in that darkness for something to happen. Within a minute my prayer was answered, with a sigh of cold breath brushing my cheek.

"Shiloh, open your eyes." The voice said to me. Following its instructions, my sight was greeted by a ghostly pale man with deep violet eyes and dark disheveled hair that fell down to his waist.

"Gah! You the hell are you?" I asked taking a back.

"What? You sayin' you don't remember me?" The man let out. He soon turned and his figure changed to that of a six-armed beast with the skull of a ram for a face. "It's me, Tom!" Its voice booms through my ears.

A sneer ran through my face as I looked at Tom in disgust. "What can I help you with?" I asked, trying my hardest not to either look away or throw up. "And could you please just shape-shift again?" I said waving my hand carelessly shooing away the beast in front of me.

Tom sighed and now took the form of an older man with gray hair and a speckled beard, he was wearing a white suit and had a walking cane with him. All and all he reminded me of the mascot of this chicken place back on earth.

"Oh you're not helping me...yet, you asked why you received the mission credit even though Alex is obviously still alive. You see I had forgotten how meticulous you must be when fine-tuning a leveling device. So the "Kill Alex" really turned into a kill of any part of Alex, which included cells. And with that handy power of yours, you killed some of his follicles. Now thanks to that I can tweak your system, which I did." Tom paused for a moment as I took in his words.

It all made sense to me, same reason why you have to be careful with wishes from genies or leprechauns, they'll twist your words and mess things up for you. But this time it had worked in my favor so I won't complain.

Tom walked up to me, his pale, skinny hand grasping my shoulder. I froze for a moment, his hand was cold, no not cold it was quite literally freezing. It sent shivers from my shoulder to my spine and then reverberated throughout the rest of my body.

His eyes locked with mine. Since arriving I hadn't really taken the time to observe Tom or my system. And then it truly unfogged my mind. His eye... Although his outward appearance was very, very human, he was one of the first beings in existence. He even claimed to rule over death. While his right eye was still and almost kind looking his left was darting all over, scanning me, from head to toe, from right to left, I wouldn't have been surprised if he was looking at my soul.

"There... I fixed it, don't disappoint me, Shiloh. Or I promise I will give you a fate much worse than hell. You will be the next Ruler Of Death, the next Reaper, the next m-" He screamed out to me before, something had pulled me from his realm.

"Shiloh?! What the hell are you doing man? Standing in a corner all creepy mumbling to yourself." Caleb said his hand around my arm pulling me from my trance.

I smiled slightly, scratching my head. "Sorry haha... Must've still been tired." I said haphazardly. Looking back to Alex, he was now lying down with Emi in his arms.

"Anyway... We're gonna go eat, you coming?" He asked beginning to walk back to the group.

As much as I didn't want to offend the king by not dining, I wanted to practice and learn these powers I now passed. 'Perhaps if I asked Luci about it she would vouch for me in front of him? But then again who says not coming to dinner Is offensive in this world? maybe they will ask where I am and someone will say I'm practicing and leave it at that.'

Whatever I'll just hope for the best. Smiling once more I raised my hands in defense. "No, no it's fine. I want to rest a bit and maybe look at this system some more." I let out, glancing at the faces of my classmates. I was torn at a crossroads as I wanted them to say it was fine and leave yet another part of me hoped they would stay behind with me as well, yet Lily was the first one to speak up.

"Well, okay! See you later." Tossing up a peace sign she began to walk away, the others following her. All of them besides Alex that is.

"Actually I think I'll stay too. Thanks to Emi's healing I'm barely even hungry right now." He pleaded, turning back to face me yet abruptly Eliza grabbed his arm yanking him to come with the group.

"Nope! You and Caleb have to protect us in case of a dragon or something." He said his voice drowning out as they continued to walk from the courtyard. All that remained were the three of us, being: Luci, Madam Glendale, and myself.

"U-um, why aren't you guys leaving?" I asked. Luci promptly ignored me. However, Madam Glendale did respond.

"Well if you must know, I can't bear it! Nor could I face myself in front of the king!" She shouted out. Stomping her way toward me she pointed her finger in my chest. "Do you know how embarrassing it is? Not to be chosen by a "God" or whatever the hell they were talking about last night."

"Quiet." A voice let out whispering, and in that instant Glendale dropped to the floor, crashing. Turning around there was now a man standing behind me. He was a towering figure, perhaps seven feet? He had bright purple hair and grey eyes. His skin was dark, and so were his clothes. H was wearing an incredibly simple outfit yet it just seemed to ooze with luxury. A black silk button-up shirt, and a dark gray pair of trousers.

Luci vanished from her position and popped up right in front of me kneeling to the man.

"My Lord Death!" She announced.

'Death? As in Tom?!' I screamed inwardly. The man chuckled slightly before his glance fell on me.

"Yes, my dear Shiloh, as in Tom. Or as the people call me, Laurent. I know, not very menacing." He finished, although I had spoken to Nothing/Death/Tom/Laurent, not once had I heard him sound so jovial. His voice was deep yet it contained this odd softness to it, something akin to the taste of honey and the sound of a calm running spring.

"As I said earlier Shiloh, you weren't helping me then but you will certainly help me now." He said looking down at me, he then shifted his vision to Luci. "Look at me dear." She instantly obeyed.

"You will tell the people of the castle that Shiloh has gone out to see a mage within the castle walls, and when you return you will retrieve her and meet me in the cellar." He instructed pointing down to Glendale.

Luci nodded. "Which wing my Lord? Er- which wing for the cellar shall I meet you?" She asked. Yet after only a few seconds her face of obedience sank into one of terror. I could not understand why she seemed so afraid until Laurent spoke once more.

"Who told you to talk?" He said softly.

The color from Luci's face vanished leaving her almost as pale as me. Even from her crouched kneeling state, it was easy to spot that she was violently trembling.

"P-please my Lord. I meant no offense to it!" She pleaded straightening her back out so that she was simply on her knees looking up at Tom. I could only watch the encounter as I did not know just what was happening.

Removing my gaze from Luci I looked back up to Laurent. "And now you dare raise your voice to me?" He said, the sweet, calm tone in his voice gone. Replaced by pure malice. "And not only that but you lift your head as well?" Closing his eyes he sighed.

"Since Shiloh is here and I am in good spirits, I will allow it, just this one time." His tone was much lighter than before, and a smile appeared on his face once more. Walking up to Luci who was still in a praying position, he lightly caressed her face and then went on to play with a few strands of her luscious hair before pulling himself into a tight fist. Falling to one knee to be somewhat on her level he locked eyes with her.

"That source of yours... It is a dazzling light blue color, It sure would be a shame for you to lose all that power, wouldn't it?" He asked letting go of her hair.

Watching this show of respect and fear intertwine made my heart begin to skip a few beats. The power he commanded was awe-worthy.

Taking his index finger and thumb he made a pinching motion with his fingers and Luci yelled out with what seemed to be pain.

In between his fingers was a shining blue shard of something that resembled glass. He flicked it back at Luci which seemed to end her suffering as her body relaxed.

"Now go." He said awfully monotonously. And with that, she sprung up running into the castle.

Laurent glanced down at me and let out a soft smile. "You see, sometimes when children don't behave you must discipline them. I'm sure you know all about that don't you?" He said laughing. Waving his hand he seemed to apologize. I didn't even realize my face had scrunched up at his words.

"I'm only joking, just joking. Don't look so upset, but you must remember that in the future boy. Correct behavior of those who mess up, no matter how small or large the mistake was, you just bring them to the brink of death and ensure they won't make the same mistake."

Placing one arm behind his back and his hand on mine he pushed me forward out from the courtyard. "Now come."