"Jonathan."
My pencil tapped rhythmically as I contemplated the meaning of sanity. Is the fact that just because the majority of society sees something a certain way, anyone who sees something else is immediately labeled crazy? Or maybe the one labeled as crazy is one of the few that sees things clearly, and everyone else is deluded.
"Jonathan West, I'll give you five seconds to pay attention."
I recalled the famous quote from that one Chinese philosopher … I forget his name, but it was something like: ""Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man."
"Well, don't say I didn't warn him."
Maybe fantasy is just another reality that exists outside of our own concept of the world, lost forever in...
*THUNK*
I was awakened from my musings by a whiteboard marker, thrown from Miss Angela's deft hands. It was currently fourth period, and the worst time to let your mind wander. Nicknamed "The Sniper", Miss Angela had terrifying accuracy with a marker, nailing anyone unfortunate enough to catch her eye. It was one of the few classes where everyone paid attention, as anyone foolish enough to test her would walk home with a mark on their forehead.
"Are you listening now, Jonathan?"
"Yes ma'am!"
"Good. Now, let's talk about the difference between a conjunction and a preposition..."
I slouch back in my seat and take a look at the reason for my distraction.
[Myriad Beast System booting...]
[Myriad Beast System loaded]
[Stats]
[Shop]{Locked}
[Quests]{Locked}
[Mailbox] {Two items pending}
Yep. I had no idea if I was a butterfly or a man right now. I reached forward towards the text screen in front of me and found my hand would phase through it, like it wasn't even there. I wanted to do more testing, but I figured I would wait until after school. Smart idea on my part, as there had never been a student with two marks on their forehead walking home, and I didn't want to be the first.
***
The last bell rang and I started to walk home. I've never had a close friend, not even in kindergarten. I was always alone, but I didn't mind. To me, family was more important than anything else. If I didn't have my family's support, I wouldn't be half the person I am today. I mean, sure, people approached me with friendly intentions, but I just didn't care for superficial relationships. But because of that, most of my knowledge is theoretical, as I've never had an opportunity to test things I've learned. I've read enough to know that this is a common trope in novels as of late. The main character gets a system, becomes stupidly overpowered, and then... and then what? What would you do once you are the strongest? I've never gotten that part. What's the point of being the strongest?
"Well, I'll figure that part out later. For now, let's just look at this system."
I tried to interact with the symbols in my vision physically in class, but it wasn't like a touchscreen at all. Instead, I tried to mentally call the tab I wanted.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
[Stats]
[Name: Jonathan West]
[Title: None]
[Exp: 0/100]
[HP: 10]
[MP: 0]{Locked}
[Strength: 5]
[Agility: 3]
[Stamina: 1]
[Intelligence: 15]
[Wisdom: 0]{Locked}
[Luck: 20]
[Charm: 0]
[Tamed Beasts: None]
[Overall Evaluation: Significantly more intelligent and luckier than most of humanity, but lackluster in every other stat. Work harder host!]
I guess the intelligence stat was to be expected, but the other stats seemed... let's not get into that now. I hope I'll be able to increase my stats by a significant margin later, but for now I'm stuck with what I got. The other thing that caught my eye was the tamed beasts, but no other information was available. The only other option I can see is to check the mailbox, but looking at my surroundings, I decided to wait until I got home and was in a private space.
I walked down the residential area of good old Nowhere, Idaho. Don't get me wrong, Idaho's a great place to live, but when your largest city only has 200,000 people in it, you get used to the small-town atmosphere. Everybody knows everybody else's secrets, and even in the larger towns like Twin Falls, Moscow, or Boise, you run into acquaintances every time you turn around. Thankfully my family blends into the background. We don't mess with others; they don't mess with us. It's a great combination.
I don't know why those thoughts were going through my head, but there they were. Maybe all the weird stuff that had happened today was getting to me. Before I knew it, though, I reached my family's house. A smile bloomed unbidden on my face as I opened the door.
"I'm home!"
"Good job, you survived another day of public school. Now shut up so I can enjoy the game."
"Stop that, dear. He doesn't need your witticism the moment he walks in the door."
"Ouch, ouch, why the ear, ouch, ok! It's good to see you, Johnny."
I watched in amusement as my six-foot-tall grandfather had his ear almost twisted off by my 5-foot 2 grandmother. Outside an uncaring demeanor, he's actually like a big teddy bear. That being said, my grandmother was one of the only people who could cut through his façade in an instant.
"Ha, I beat you today! With this I claim..."
"No, I will not do your homework for you, Sophia."
"But we had a bet!"
I smile and ruffle my sister's hair. I then lean over and whisper, "Should've got it in writing."
As soon as I said it, I felt a chill run down my spine. I looked over and saw my mother with an eerily calm smile on her face. Three words were enough to give me nightmares.
"Jonathan. Trace. West. Would you care to explain what is going on?"
I swear, our neighbors are awfully kind to ignore the screams that come every so often from our house.
***
It wasn't until after dinner that I was able to get some time to myself. I plopped on my bed and let out a deep sigh. Thankfully our house is large enough to afford everyone their own room, so I didn't have to worry about anyone popping in while I experimented with the system.
"Open Mailbox."
[Received Beginners Package]
[Unlocked Skill Hunter's Mentality]
[Unlocked Skill Taming]
[Unlocked Skill Myriad Beast Transformation]
[Unlocked Quests]
[Received System Transmission] {Locked until Level 10}
[Received Daily Quests]
[Received Time Sensitive Quest: The First Steps]
I was overloaded with system messages as soon as I opened the mail. I decided to go through each message individually to try to understand what was going on.
[Hunter's Mentality (S)]
[A hunter keeps his mind focused on the prey, ignoring all distractions and focusing on the kill]
[Grants immunity to all mental attacks equal to or below S rank, while keeping the user calm at all times. The user can also see information compiled of any person or object that is lower level]
[Taming]
[Creates a contract with a weakened or willing beast. This contract allows the owner to speak telepathically with the contracted beast, and the beast gains a portion of the system's powers.]
[Myriad Beast Transformation (E)(Growth)]
[Allows the user to transform into any tamed race of an equal or lower rank to this skill and gain all abilities related to that species. Transformation lasts for 1 hour, or until the user decides to cancel it. The casting time is 30 seconds, and the user must cancel the transformation and wait an amount of time equal to time spent transformed before attempting to transform again.]
I was somewhat confused. As far as I knew, there was no way I would run into mental attacks, so why would I need protection from them? Also, animals had ranks? System, are you sure you aren't trolling me here?
[You do not have high enough clearance for that.]
Well, then. I suppose it would have to wait. I would just have to wait to see what this system had in store for me. Now for the quests.
[Quests]
[Daily]
[100 Pushups (Incomplete)]
[100 Sit-ups (Incomplete)]
[100 Squats (Incomplete)]
[5km run (Incomplete)]
[As the system finished binding less than 24 hours ago, the first day is optional. There will be no punishment for failure of tasks, and the new day will roll over at midnight]
[Reward 50 Exp, 5 stat points]
Why do these tasks seem so... unoriginal? I swear I've seen these somewhere, but if it's what gets the job done, I'll do them. However, the final quest was much more severe than everything else that had happened so far.
[The First Steps]
[Reach Level 10 in 15 days]
[Time Remaining: 14 days 2 hours]
[Reward: ??????]
[Punishment for failure: Death]
I gulped. If I didn't level up fast enough, I would die. But how? Would I have a sudden heart attack? Would a random truck hit me? I, I...
At that moment a cool sensation flowed from the back of my head, and I immediately went from an almost full-on panic attack to calm and rational. I realized this was probably due to [Hunter's Mentality]. I didn't like that I was so panicked, and now I almost felt like I was looking at the problem from outside myself. I knew what I had to do. There was no need to worry about the punishment, the only thing to do would be level up as fast as possible. That was the only way I would avoid death.
'System, what are the ways of earning exp other than the daily tasks?'
[Spontaneous Quests will be issued from time to time. The only other method currently available to the host is taming a beast and having the beast hunt other animals.]
With that, my plan was set. I would find a suitable beast to tame first thing tomorrow. But first...
"Ugh, homework."
[Spontaneous quest issued]
[Homework]
[Keeping a balance in daily life will help you in the future. For each assignment that you get 100% on, you will earn 1 Exp]
On second thought, maybe this wouldn't be too bad.