"Is this hell?"
Marlos was currently lying down in a dark empty room. He was perplexed because he didn't believe in life after death, and also because he clearly seemed fine even after taking a bullet to the head.
Last night had been a particularly gloomy for him. He was killed by his own mentor, without any explanation. He could vaguely guess that his Senior had no choice, but still, it was a pretty hurtful incident.
After revisiting the incident for one last time in his mind, he stood up. He was in a room that had one door and no other openings. He was lying down on the floor, as the room had no furniture. It was most probably a cell, which didn't make much sense to him.
"After-life?"
Suddenly, his head started pulsating. He was in an unbearable amount of pain.
"Son of a..."
Before he could finish his curse, he lost consciousness.
White. The only word that could be used to describe his current location.
"Can I just stop existing?" he said with a frustrated look.
The only thing worse than claustrophobia might be having too much space. And his current plane of existence was exactly that, an infinite space with no observable end.
"User Interface activated. Registration of current user complete."
Siri, is that you?
"Host, you are currently possessed by the entity known as 'System'. Do you wish to bind?"
All of a sudden, a timer appeared in front of him. He was understandably startled.
"Remaining time to accept, 10 seconds."
Just like a disclaimer, there was something written below the timer. With a small star.
"Failure to accept will lead to the death of the user, permanently. Also, binding the system can only be undone when the user loses his life."
"A system?"
Marlos couldn't believe his luck. Turns out, he had Reincarnated, that too with a system.
"Accept."
He really wanted to end this, but the prospects of having a system were too tempting.
There was also the fact that he was afraid of dying again.
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"User registration complete. The system welcomes user, Alex Curran."
Alex? Is that my current name?
"Yes, User. You were transmigrated to a parallel world, and are now a 7-year-old boy."
"System, can you tell me what your intentions are?"
Marlos was a bit skeptical. It seemed too convenient that he was able to get transmigrated, much less get a system of his own.
"I exist to be a parasite to the energy of a host. Energy refers to the amount of activity that the host can execute to gain merit. Merit is like water to the system, extremely essential, and energy is its food. The more you perform, the more system thrives, and you get better advantages to improve yourself."
"Hmmm..." Marlos noticed that the system was very frank. The word parasite was used by the system to make its user a bit fearful, but Marlos already knew that it was trying to intimidate him. Otherwise, there would have been no benefits.
"I think I get what you are talking about. If I continue to work hard then you grow, and in turn, I get more help from you to improve, right?"
"Correct user. Now as a bonus, I will give you a class as recommended by your mentality. You can make your decision out of three choices, but remember that you will never be able to change your class until you reach the pinnacle of your current class."
"Straight to the point. I like your style, system. Now let's see what my choices are."
A menu-type interface came in front of his vision. There were 3 options in front of him, all of which made his face twitch. He wanted to have a better life than his previous one, but these three options guaranteed that he will have to work like hell in his current life as well.
First choice: Begger(Rare grade class)
Become the ruler of the penniless drifters who roam the streets all day long, raise an empire by collecting Donations from almsgivers to become a billionaire!
"No way in hell." Marlos was a thief before he was recruited by his senior in his previous life. He was dirt poor, but he had some integrity. Begging was out of the question because he didn't like it as a profession, and it would be insanely difficult to become a billionaire as a beggar.
Second choice: Conman(Rare grade class)
Con people from all walks of life. Lower, middle, or upper class. No one is out of reach when your charm can make anyone believe even the vilest of lies without a bat of an eye, become the killer of hopes and dreams of not only people but entire governments.
"Am I really that much of a deadbeat?"
This one was even worse. Stealing things was his forte, mainly because he was a person who liked to be direct. Plan, steal, escape, hide. This was his philosophy before he became an assassin. Although conning people was pretty similar, and being an assassin came with tools that were pretty helpful in this profession, he just didn't want to manipulate people to cause them despair without any reason. When he manipulated people, it was to kill them. He was no longer a petty thief on the streets of Madrid. If the mission demanded it, he wouldn't hesitate to get his hands dirty, but he wouldn't dare to make a living out of it.
Third choice: Assassin(Legendary grade Class)
Become the shadow that can make any target's skin crawl. With just the right amount of emotions, which is zero, execute people at whim. Become the power that can single-handedly make or break the fate of entire continents, and show the world that death is indeed the scariest thing for a human being, which has always been your best friend.
"System, what is class grading?"
"It is the potential of a class, and also the affinity of it with the user. Legendary is the highest grade for a class, and it is only possible when the conditions around you are perfect for the growth of this class."
Marlos didn't understand much but was able to figure out that this was the best class for him. The killing was something that people dread, but he found solace in it. And being an assassin also meant that he had one more chance to become the best in the world, only this time, he will never trust anyone.
"System, I choose the third class. Assassin."
And then he felt another bout of immense pain in his head.
But this time, he had a smile on his face.
"Ejecting user out of the system space. Generating missions. System upgrade time, 2 days."