[Ding]
[Hello host, belated congratulations on your death]
Drake was more than enough of an otaku in his previous life to know the meaning of that ding.
It was the sentence said by the electronic female voice that made him frown. He was in a dilemma whether he should be happy or cuss the system for the words it said.
Oh yeah, by the way, he reincarnated and this was his second life. But let's not mention unimportant things.
“Thanks, I guess. So System, or whatever you are, mind explaining yourself.” Drake had hundreds of words to say both PG and non PG, but in the end just thanked whatever entity it was.
[Your Welcome Host, I am the Eldritch Nexus System.]
The system introduced itself, this time in a more feminine and less robotic voice.
“Your name is too long. Judging by your voice, you sound female, so I will call you Ivy,” said Drake.
[Thanks host for the name. I don't have a gender, but I am changing myself according to your preferences.]
Ivy thanked him. Her voice started slightly robotic, but by the end, her voice was entirely feminine like a mature elder sister both gentle and seductive at the same time.
“Sure, now start explaining yourself.” Drake ignored the change in her voice, he was more interested in getting his answers as quickly as possible.
[Yes host. I am the only and the strongest artifact. For countless ages, I have been looking for a host to bind to. When I finally found you, I decided right then and there that you would be my master.]
“Why me? I am sure you could find better candidates. I am not exactly a moral person” Drake didn't believe that pizza could rain from the sky.
[Host, it was never a competition to find the best host. It was all about compatibility, among the countless beings scanned by me, you are the one who was compatible with me. You were meant to be my host.]
[As for being moral, morality has nothing to do with it. My purpose is to make you the strongest, whether you are a hero in shining armor, a sick psycho who likes ripping babies apart, a background character, a hypocrite, or anything else, it doesn't matter.]
Drake again ignored that it sounded more like a declaration of love from the entity or system or Ivy as he named her and asked the next question.
“So did you kill me?”
[No host, I didn't. I was waiting for countless ages for a host, it didn't matter to wait a few more decades, then after your natural death, I would take away your soul and bind with it.]
As if the Ivy knew what Drake would ask next she continued.
[You didn't die a natural death, but from an accident. Since you didn't have fetters in your life, I easily took away your soul.]
He thought that the system might be lying but reconsidered as he didn't feel any malice from it and thought that if it was telling the truth there was no need for it to kill him.
“Ok, no problem. But was my medical condition related to you?”
[I apologize, host. But your soul was too weak to bind with me, a simple mistake could have damaged your soul to the point of no return. So I had to be very gentle when handling your soul and hence I reduced your soul activity to properly bind with you. Three days ago the binding was completed, hence you got full control of your soul.]
“Well, I apologize for my weak soul,” said Drake sarcastically.
“Then why were you silent till now?” asked Drake.
[That's because I was waiting for the host to step into the main world, as contact in the previous world had no use.]
“Wait a minute! What do mean by main world?” Drake interrupted Ivy.
[Host, the world you are standing in is the main world.]
“I knew it. There was no way even with current technology to create a VRMMORPG game with 100% reality,” said Drake excitedly.
[This world is infinite. Periodically new worlds are added to it. Most of the time they would be assimilated directly but sometimes some worlds get a grace period to make their assimilation easier. This can happen only two ways, one is that they were lucky enough to be randomly selected for the grace period or someone very strong intervenes.]
“So, the world I reincarnated to, is it lucky?” asked Drake seriously.
[No]
He laughed out loud and said, “Interesting, but so what? It has nothing to do with me. I just need to take care of a select few.”
[Exactly host]
“Ok, enough boring talks. You claimed you are the strongest artifact, so can you make me the strongest quickly?” asked Drake, interested in what the system had to offer.
[Yes host. I can make you the strongest within at most a week. Do you want that?]
“Hell no, what's the fun in that? I am going to go at my pace, and enjoy my way to the top.” declared Drake. With the system connected with him, he already understood how to leave, so he cut short the conversation and left. He came to enjoy and whether reality or game, he intended to do so.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
[As expected from the host I chose. But don't worry host, I am here to assist you on your journey. I am sure you will like what I have prepared for you.]
—----------
Drake appeared in a bustling town square. He was dressed in a simple cotton shirt and trousers with a sword on his waist.
He looked around, the town square looked like a normal town square, which might be a few decades old.
It didn't look like a game but a real world. Of course, he ignored the fact that that world was indeed a real world about to assimilate his world, but why should he care, he was just there to play games.
Even though there were no floating names above the player's heads, he could still identify many players from their behavior.
“Sir, here are your 20 red mushrooms.”
A player gave a packet to a food vendor.
“Ah, brave chosen one, thank you for your help in bringing me these mushrooms from the perilous Black Forest. Please allow me to repay for your valiant deed.” A chubby-looking guy raised the player on a high horse by his praises.
“No, no, it was my duty.” said the player humbly, but he didn't look humble, rather bored as if he had seen this scene a hundred times.
The chubby guy seemed satisfied with his response and said, “Chosen one, here are your 3 copper coins as a repayment for your valiant deed.”
The player just took the money and left muttering, “Finally enough money to afford tonight’s meal”.
‘Different players, different problems.’ mused Drake.
He looked up and saw the sun shining brightly with no fog seen in the distance. It was because this was a territory.
The fog world is infinite and as expected from its name is covered by fog. The fog hid many dangers, monstrosities, and weird creatures, but likewise is filled with treasures.
It's divided into random-sized pieces called Fog Zones and the Zones could teleport randomly but that mostly happened at midnight of course it might happen at other times too.
The only way to lock a zone is to first conquer it and then establish a territory that needed an item called Fog Foundation Stone.
Territory comes with various bonuses that increase with the territory level.
When first used, it created a Mortal Territory. It can then be leveled up to Extraordinary Territory divided into low, mid, high, and peak stages, and even higher territory levels.
The territory needed to be protected from the outside forces that got teleported. Many territories were destroyed because randomly an overpowered monster, like a dragon, or even a god teleported near them.
The territory size can be increased either by leveling up the territory or by conquering the nearby zones but that increases the difficulty of leveling up the territory later.
Among others, there were two main abilities of a territory. One is that it stabilized the nearby space of the territory thus reducing the chance of it teleporting and thereby reducing the chances of some ridiculously strong entity teleporting back.
Another is that it could be used to make two types of compasses. It would always point in the direction of the territory no matter how far, which is very important when exploring outside as directions mean nothing in fog world. Another type would just point to the nearest territory, which might be dangerous as the territory might be hostile.
Both Fog Compasses are the same same, just the former is made by locking the coordinates of the territory in the compass and is called Territory Compass.
The Black Forest Kingdom was one such territory. It was a Low-Stage, Extraordinary Territory, but it had conquered many nearby zones and increased its size many times. It was named after the Black Forest inside the territory.
Drake appeared in Falmise City, one of the starter cities, named after the Falmise Family, the strongest family in the city.
Most territories had little to no contact with each other. So the coins the player got were only valid in the Black Forest Kingdom. They were divided into copper coins, silver coins worth 100 copper, and gold coins worth 100 silver.
He also had a small pouch with 5 copper coins, enough for one meal. The players needed to maintain hunger and thirst.
Only Fog Coins mostly dropped by the monsters in Fog World are valid everywhere.
The territory lord protected it against monsters but some still sneak inside, that's why the Black Forest had many dangerous monsters inside. The monsters killed by Jason were such monsters.
Drake looked around the place, he was looking for some quests that might give him enough money to purchase a Territory Compass to safely travel outside with no tension of getting lost in the fog.
He took a few quests like the Red Mushroom, Yellow Flower, Samr Herb, etc collection quests.
After roaming he walked inside an inconspicuous alley, with little to no traffic, hoping to find a rare quest. Or more like, he just wanted a change of scenery.
While walking aimlessly inside, he felt something. Might be because of him fully controlling his soul, he thought his perception was much better than before.
He suddenly stopped a hand nearing his pouch of money. The hand’s owner moved back quickly dodging him, without giving him a chance to take a breath, another hand neared his pouch, and he barely saved his pouch again.
The second figure approached the first figure and they stood together.
Drake could see their form properly. Both were women and twins, the second one was blindfolded. The blindfold was red with blood and her face showed traces of blood tears.
He wondered how she could see and properly aim for his pouch. Even more, why the hell were they standing there? They should either run away or attack him again to snatch his pouch, but they did neither.
He checked their status. All players had it but there were level restrictions with it. His version could be used irrespective of level difference.
Name: Ayame Murasame
Level: 0
Path: None
Skills: None
Mastery: Dagger (Beginner, Lv 3), Stealth (Beginner, Lv 5), Pickpocketing (Beginner, Lv 2)
Name: Yumi Murasame
Level: 0
Path: None
Skills: None
Mastery: Archery (Beginner, Lv 4), Stealth (Beginner, Lv 5), Pickpocketing (Beginner, Lv 1)
He would not be fooled by their level 0. All beings before starting on a path, were level 0 irrespective of their strength. So players used skills and mastery to get a rough idea of their opponents' strengths.
He could tell he was no match for even one, not to mention both of them. He knew his limitations so he took a diplomatic approach.
With a confident tone, he said, “I don't have much to steal. I only have 5 copper coins in my pouch, if you want I will give it to you. How about you let me go then?”
Both thieves were silent as if they didn't hear what he said. They were just constantly watching him. The first one looked like she was scrutinizing him, and the second one, the second one showed hints of fanaticism.
‘Are they cultists? I know this game has evil gods and there are many cults for the said gods, but how unlucky can I be to meet two of them on my first day.’
*Sigh* He took a deep sigh and decided to fight before dying. He didn't have any death penalty unlike other players but it still left a bad taste in his mouth to die so quickly after starting the game.
Just when he was about to unsheathe his sword, the second girl looked towards the first girl as if silently conveying her something. The first girl didn’t look satisfied but under the second girl’s gaze, she made a face as if accepting her fate. The second girl showed a smile at that.
Then they did something that shocked Drake.
They knelt on the ground and said in unison, “My lord, please let us serve you. We will be your eternal loyal servants.”