3. The system

While the black dragon was eating its hunt.

On top the high mountain that stood alone across the stretch of green, on a tree that stood tall, a man was sitting leisurely as he looked at the azure blue sky.

His black eyes like abyss had a gaze like it was looking at the cosmos and its occupants. His void black hair waved with the breeze. His chestnut skin gleamed like a metal. His dark blue haori fluttered the wind.

His face looked unremarkable, you would forget him after a while but his eyes spoke of depth and his demeanor showed arrogance like everything was below him.

"Here I thought you were going to die," He said.

But no one was present near him this high for them to answer him. And the answer didn't come as words but the wind. The gentle breeze shook the leaves of the branch he was sitting.

"I know you are not dead but the massive fluctuation and the reduction in your energy suggested that you were harmed. But seems like my worries were unfounded. You used your energy to summon," He said with an amused smile on his lips.

The wind rushed this time and rustled his already messy hair.

"Don't worry, I won't eat him," He smiled warmly.

Only after he answered did the wind stop.

"So, you finally decided?" He asked his eyes focusing on the dragon.

The wind swayed sadly.

"Its for the better. you are dying and the human keep parasitizing you, not knowing of their immanent destruction," 

The wind swayed again, this time showing a bit of reluctance.

"Its for the greater good. They have to be culled before they grow but your protector seems... stupid," 

The wind slowed down as if embarrassed.

"He is weak and stupid. He will die within a day if left alone," He commented

The wind spun around him.

"Okay, I will give you a little hand in this matter," The man chuckled felling ticklish.

The wind spun around him like a child. Feeling that the wind was happy, he plucked a leaf from the branch. His hand started to glow a bit golden before the glow started to cover the leaf. He then released the leave from his grip, letting the wind take the leaf.

The wind carefully carried the leaf from the mountain to a small black winged lizard which was having its meal. The leaf swayed in the wind for a moment above the dragon before it finally settled on its head.

The occupied dragon didn't notice the leaf struck to its head as it dug into its food. The seemingly normal leaf turned golden before it slowly started to disintegrate. 

"Grow well," He said.

The wind swayed and man vanished like he never existed before.

***

I got to say!

I was a bit skeptical at first about eating the boar raw but my Draconic tongue had proved me wrong. The bore was actually tasty. The warm meat mixed with blood tasted nearly the same as the beef hotpot, tasty.

[ System initiated. ]

While I was having my delicious meal, a neutral voice entered my head as sentence made of golden light appeared before me. Even though the words and letters were not in any language I knew, I was able to understand them. 

Even though it was surprising, I was entirely focused on something else. I have a system! A freaking System! Has my reincarnation cheat finally decide to activate with my first kill?!

[ NO ] 

No?

If you didn't active due to my first kill then why did you activate? 

[ The host has been recognized ]

[ Activating System ]

[ Welcome to the Exchange System ]

Hmmm... Instead of answering me you send in three new threads. Whatever I don't care why you activated now but you are here! That's enough for me! Now I can grow stronger by completing quests. I can trample on all those geniuses and the arrogant young masters. 

But wait,

From all the system novels I read, the systems always have a higher purpose. The wielder of the system always gets entailed in godly fight and always escapes with their life at the last moment. If my line of thoughts are correct, I will be getting into life threatening fights to save the world.

I don't want that! I wanna eat and sleep!!!

[ You are thinking too highly of yourself ]

Really? I am not going to fight some high level being to save this universe or something.

[ What are you? An anime protagonist? ]

Then why did I reincarnate?

[ You will know as you walk in life ]

Being a charlatan, huh?

[ Yes. ]

Seems like this system is not going to give me any details about its purpose and its goals but its better to check it then not. 

And you won't answer my questions regarding you?

[ Took you long enough ]

'Okay,' I decided to let go.

[ Good choice ]

Thank you!

Seem like I have a talking partner now. Okay, now to learn what this system does!

What do you do system?

[ I am 'Exchange System' ]

Exchange system? what do you do then? give me state points for killing beasts and completing quest?'

[ In what, 'Exchange System', did you not understand? Are you stupid? ]

'Oh, then what do you exchange?' I ask calmly.

I have already noticed this bastard being rude the whole time but I have enough patience to deal with this bastard.

[ Everything and anything of value can be exchanged for points. ]

'Do I need to own them?' I ask to check a loophole.

Think about it! If i can exchange everything around me, I can exchange that mountain for a crap load of points.

[ Do you have a brain problem? ]

'What do you mean, you bastard?' I was done with this peace of shit.

[ If you don't own the thing you exchange, it is theft. I am a righteous System! ]

Hmmm... Is it like that? Seems like I can't exchange the mountain. What a let down? Seems like I need to treasure hunt. May be steal from the rich like robin hood but for my poor self. Now that I think of stealing, I need to make sure I can exchange it.

'Hey, can I exchange stuff I steal from someone for points?'

[ You can ]

It is a trap of a system, it is trying to confuse me with all this shit. It say it is righteous but I can exchange stolen item. In what world, is this righteous?

[ System can exchange stolen good because host steals them, it does not affect the System and people are going to chase after the host, not the System. ]

This bastard makes sense. If I start to steal, people will be after me but this guy is just freeloading me. 

[ Note: The host has used up his last brain cell! ]

'You little shit!' I roared as I pounced at the systems panel, forgetting that it is in my head. My head smash into the ground causing me pain that I didn't want.

[ Brain cell count : 0 ]

'Fuck! I will deal with you later!'

I swear as I rub my nose. I decided to deal with the system later. I will deal with it after I am strong enough to deal with it.

I stop rubbing my nose and see that my face is covered in blood. 

***

I notice that my whole face is covered in blood. It is no wonder as I was eating like an uncultured person. Even thought I managed to tear the skin from meat and throw away its intestines and stuff, when I was eating to fill my empty stomach, the blood still covered my face.

I walk to the lake and try to scoop water to wash my face but the water slips thought my clawed hands. With no other option, I dip my head into the water and use my hands to rub the blood off. 

The water turned red with blood. 

While I was washing my face without a care, a being that resided in the lake was woken up by the scent of blood. It opened its reptilian eyes as it rushed out from the depth toward scent of blood.

While I was washing my head, I opened my eyes and managed to see a humongous figure rushing in my direction. My pupils contracted, scales tightened and a chill ran though my spine. It was an instinctual fear that I have never experienced before.

My body kicked in to fight or flight mode and rushed away from the lake. I didn't even care about my image as I zigzagged though the trees. I only stopped after I was sure that I was out of attack range.

I turned to look at what escaped from the lake. It was a huge alligator with greenish blue scales. It was nearly three meters in length. It caused huge ripples to form on the lake with its emergence. 

The alligator scanned the surface with its reptilian eyes before it locked on to the dead boar. Noticing the boar, the huge figure left the water and moved to the land. It opened its massive mouth and ate the boar whole with one bite.

*Gulp*

I gulped involuntarily. It would have been me who gets eaten if I didn't immediately flee. It seems the danger level of this forest is higher then it seems. This alligator should be the boss of the lake. I don't think I can beat this unless I grow to three meters myself.

While I was contemplating, the alligator turned toward me and our gazed locked on that second. I froze in fear as I sensed the brutality in its eyes.

[ A strong beast has been detected! ]

[ A quest is being generated! ]

[ Scanning the strength of the opponent. . . ]

[ Rank 2 : Blue scale alligator! ]

[ The opponent is too strong for the Host! ]

[ Three choices generated due to the situation ]

[ Choice 1 : Fight to the death and die ]

[ Choice 2 : Just die ]

[ Choice 3 : Run Away before you die ]

While I was caught in this deadly stare down, the systems showers me with threads. Even thought it didn't have a sense of timing, it still gave me enough information about my opponent. 

Seems like the name of the alligator is 'blue scale alligator' and it is rank 2 beast. Seems strong!

I check the options given to me and I could help but curse. Two of the three option is for me to die! What is this? I know I am weak! I just broke out of my egg!

Seem like I can only choose the third option. It okay to run away to save your life, its not cowardly.

'I choose option three.'

[ Then what are you doing?! Run!!! ]

With that prompt, I immediately turn tail and ran with all my energy. After I ran for about 20 feet, I felt a chill to my back. Adrenaline pumped and my scales tightened at the chill that was coming from my back. Sensing the danger, I zigzag through the tree and run without turning back.

*BOOM*

A loud crashing sound came from behind. I turn my head slightly to see what had happened. A tree the with of half a meter was cut clean and it was by water!

Shit! No one said the alligator could use water blades!

The water blade only strengthened my resolve as I kept running in zigzag to avoid getting gunned down. As I ran, I could occasionally hear the crashing sound of trees. Many trees had fallen victim for the water blade.

I don't want to die on the first day of my birth!

I scream in my head as I ran. I ran without looking back until the sound of trees falling never came and I was somewhere I didn't know. I was lost!

***

I am lost.

But I am not, because I didn't know where I was going in the first place. This whole forest is an unknown territory to me. No one gave me a fucking map!

Well, whatever, I need to thank Bear Grills again. Thanks for all those survival skills. Now, I need to get to a high vantage point to find where I am and which direction to go.

But where should I go? Should I travel through this dangerous forest without any strength? NO! There is a chance I could run into a strong opponent and die. I need to find a place to stay so I could check the system. I need to get strong enough so I can travel freely in this forest.

But where to stay? Should I go back to my cave? Even though it is safe for now but if some beast were to enter, I am dead without a way out. Well, its not like I have any other place to be anyway!

So, to the cave I go!

Now, which direction is it?

I look around myself. I can't find any mountain. All I see are the brown bark of trees around me.

Do you see the mountain?

I know you can't.

Let's put the plan to work. I walk toward the thickest trunk I could find around me and try to climb it. Even though I have never climbed a tree in my other life because I was a salted fish. C'mon who of us have climbed a tree? We don't even have tree nowadays.

But I feel like I can do it in this in this life. Reptiles climbs the tree all the time, so why can't I who is the mightiest of reptiles, a dragon? And let me give you a fact. Dragon recorded in a book in 18s say that Dragons didn't fly but jumped from trees to attack the passers.

I use my clawed hand to grip the trunk and my claws dug into the bark, giving me a firm grip. Well, what did it tell you (¬‿¬). I use my other hand to grip higher and used my leg. Like this, I got firm grip using all my limbs.

I started to clime the tree with my claws digging into the tree. I got to say, my body is really made to climb and I am now near the top. The obstructing trees and leaves have reduced. I continued until the darkness fell on me.

Darkness?

I lift my head to look up. My majestic jaws drop, my scale tightened and my claws dig deep. It was a bird. The darkness was caused by a bird with feathers. It was a freaking bird that caused the the darkness! It is nearly covering the sky with its enormous wings. This is even bigger than the alligator.

Fuck! Seems like everything in this forest is stronger than me.

I stay frozen until the bird vanish in the horizon. Well, that was close. I would have been its snack if I had decided to fly. I should finish the job and get to the ground. I turn my head to scan my surrounding.

Found it!

The lone mountain stuck out like a sore thumb among the stretch of trees.

*****

Hello, if you have read this far, I like to thank you for giving this story a chance. If you liked how this story is going, add it to the library and join me on this journey.

The updates will be at Mondays, Wednesday, Thursday.