Chapter 9: Trouble Stirring [2/?]

'But what the hell is with the penalty… it looks weird.' The question lingered on in Ether's head, he couldn't figure out what was happening to the system. The whole time he had been walking back home was spent wondering what was wrong with the system.

'Could it be a bug in the system?' 'Was it perhaps due to the appearance of the emergency quest?' Such thoughts popped out of Ether's head as made his way home.

After reaching home, Ether had jumped into the comfortable sofa of his before toying around with the system. Thanks to his stupidity, he figured out 3 important things about the system, but none of which helped him with his case with the missing description of the penalty of the emergency quest.

One, the system could use souls and mora to refine his weapon and even ascend it using certain materials to refine it. Two, souls gathered from different entities or monster differ, some valuing more than others, a Mitachurls soul has 2 to 3 times more value than a Hilichurls soul. The stronger the monster, the more valuable their souls are. And for the third and last one, just like how Primogems are used as important in game currency for things like Gacha, Resin, and etc. The system itself uses a different kind of currency that symbolizes that of the same concept. But instead of weapons and character gacha, it'll be accessory gacha, which is similar to artifacts but it's effects can be more or less effective based on how the user utilizes them.

"Why the hell aren't you working now?!?" Shouted Ether as he smashed the holographic panel in front of him, just for it to pass through it. "And I can't even vent my frustration at this thing…"

As if the system had a mind of its own… another quest popped up in front of Ether.

[System Mission: Apology]

[Details: The system is upset with the way you've been treating it in the past two years, including actions like ignoring the system, viewing the system as nothing but a tool, and etc. Make it up to the system by showing that you are sorry for what you did to it.]

[Rewards: System forgives you, continuing to assist you with your new life.]

"And? What if I don't do it? You can't do anything to me!" Ether said as he tossed the matter of the new mission aside.

[…]

[Penalty: System Self-Destruction, User stats return to what it was prior to using the system.]

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa now calm down here," Ether panicked as he looked at the penalty. "We can talk about this now can't we?"

[Only if you finish the quest…]

"Okay okay fine… I'll do it! What do you want anyways? The fact that you're getting angry is annoying me because it is so close to the beginning of the story" but before Ether could finish his complaints, the system disappeared from Ether's sight.

"Wait! Hello? System you there?" Ether called, but there was no response, so he waited and waited…

Still, no response…

"Haaa…" Ether sighed as he shook his head. "When will I get my response?"

As Ether said that, a letter appeared from where the system panel was last seen, the letter itself was sealed, but it had Ether's name on it. "Hmm? What's this?"

After messing around with the letter that appeared out of thin air, Ether decided to open up the letter and read it.

The following below is the content of the letter:

———————————————————————

Dear Host,

System had enough of you, even when the system assisted you many times, nevertheless you still had the nerve to ignore, to blame, and to talk back to the system. For that, the system will be helping the host for a while. Please stay safe out here on during the time which the system is not with you.

Sincerely,

System

———————————————————————

Ether's hand shook uncontrollably as he read each word aloud, unable to process or accept any of this. He closed his eyes and opened them repeatedly, but the letter didn't disappear. "SHIT!" He cursed as he slammed his fist against the sofa

After minutes of repeated blows to the sofa, Ether seemed to have finally cooled down. Taking multiple breaths before he finally calmed down. "Fuck, what am I going to do now?" Ether said as he rushed to grab a pen and paper. "I need to come up with a plan to survive without the system for a while…'

He quickly got over to the table after he got out his pen and paper and started writing. 'Now… what do I know about the story? And how will the story change?' Ether couldn't help but feel excited, after all, he hated the idea of staying the same. Things are more exciting when they change, for the better or the worse. Regardless of what happens, as long as he survives until the system is back, he wins. It doesn't matter what happens, who is sacrificed, as long as he lives, that's all that matters.

'The end of Teyvat doesn't mark the end of me.' Ether nodded as he looked over his plans. 'But I still need Lumine to live… I will decide on what to do about my next course of actions after we solve this issue with Stormterror. I should solve the matter in hand first…'

Remembering what the system had mentioned before it got angry at him, Ether couldn't help but sigh at how bothersome it is going to be. "Guess I'll do that now… maybe it'll help me with my plan… who knows?" Ether shrugged as he prepared himself, "Now then… time to get going…"

A/N: Slower updates because I'm thinking more about how this will go… this is why I can't become a good writer… I have spontaneous combustion of ideas