The boy stared at the small blue ball lying in the middle of his palm. The system had been kind enough and gave him some little energy boost to finish the beast and take the last essence, and now he was truly tired.

"When are you going to tell me what you use the essence of my defeated enemies for?"

The boy asked the system in his mind, but all he got was a bitter silence.

The boy panted and dropped his butt to the floor, without a care in the world. His eyes drifted off to the crumbled house. And for a moment, he missed home.

He isn't actually from this place: the realm of chaos and other bizarre elements. He was a cultivator, happy with his life and his proud cultivation.

But bad things happened. When a siege happened, he was a participant in it, and to his misfortune, he got killed, and he died.

By the time he opened his eyes, he found himself not dead but alive, and then he got to meet his system. The system: something that he finds alien and baffling.

It did not take long for the reason he got the system to become clear. The system saved his life and brought him to the chaotic realm, and he got to work for it like a well-obedient slave, well, a slave with benefits. He gets to upgrade and cultivate the new cultivation that the system has made for him. In return, he gives the system all his trophies (gained Essence), and he gains name and power (immortality).

And after immortality, he can go back to his world. A pretty nice deal with the system being the sponsor and him the hard-working young fella. But the situation he found himself in was hard.

All his powers in his real world, he has lost it all. Now he was just a weak orphan trying to survive.

His role was like a player in a level-up game according to what the system has said. He is not sure about it.

...

As the system refused to answer him, the boy sighed, playing with the dirt that came to his hands, "I feel like what you are making me do is evil cultivation. I mean, you haven't explained everything clearly to me.”

“The essence that I'm collecting. Isn't it like stealing one's life-earned cultivation?” He continued to question as the system kept still in silence.

He needed a clear understanding of what had happened to him. Everything about his new cultivation and more details. But the system was being a wood and not answering him.

Awkward silence. The boy did not want to say anything again. Already giving up on having any more chat with the system, but that was when the system voice sounded in his mind. The system's quick response.

"The essence that you collect is not an act of evil cultivation. In this realm of chaos, the strong dominate the weak, and the weak they leave them to surfer under their will.”

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“It is by all rights that a warrior or cultivator takes their trophy, and after winning a battle, the essence you collect from your defeated enemies is your reward."

"I get it now," the boy mumbled slightly to the system in his heart. Getting up, he dusted his butt, now staring at the crumbled home. Life was hard enough. The house was pretty old, but it still held him from the cold and monsters. Although the protection was not lasting, it was still a fifty percent means of his survival.

"System, where will I live?" His worried expression was clear on his eyebrows. The land outside the old house was not safe. Monsters, demons and beasts could easily destroy him, and eat his bones.

The house was his only territory. He can easily avoid danger, which he was sure of.

But as for the environment outside the house, he was not so sure about it.

The boy sighed, still waiting for the system's response.

The system steadfastly answered the boy, "Don't worry. The shabby house will rebuild itself in no moment."

The system seemed to know a lot, and in no time, the boy saw the broken bricks reconstructing themselves. Many bricks floated in the air, simultaneously forming building blocks and finally bringing the house back to shape.

The boy looked in slight awe at the phenomenon that had happened. He was not shocked. He was so familiar with strange things happening, but he still.

Smiled, grateful the house was fixable. "Ha! I can have a nice rest. My bones need some stretching."

In his moments of feeling relief, the system interface gave another update in his mind.

[System: NEW MISSION ARRIVAL!!]

[Mission: A group of evil bandit cultivators are planning to attack a helpless orphan. Fight the bandits, defend your home, and come back with no skin sliced.]

Difficulty: easy

Object: Collect the cultivation essence of the bandits.

Rewards:

+60 Exp

+50% increase in level 0 ultimate essence primary cultivator.

Tools: (the weapons or objects found on the bandits are your gains)

Skills: Essence detector

"This is too quick. The energy boost has exhausted all my strength." the boy furrowed his brow, dashing into the renewed house to lock the doors and all entrances that connect the house to the outside.

Safety first, before any battles. His mind was too unstable at the moment to rush into fighting the bandits. He has got no stamina, and he didn't know the race of the bandits. The system didn't make that clear to him.

If the Bandits were giants, they might crush him, and if they were orcs, it was just his sweet luck.

"It is pointless what you are doing," the system's discouraging words sounded in his ears. The boy's action, to the system, it was just a waste of time trying to avoid the inevitable. The boy should stand at the front door and welcome the Bandits with might.

The boy growled slightly, ignoring the system's words. He had heard the system through too many discouraging words too many times. If he hadn't used his acute calculation, he wouldn't have survived until now.

"How long does it take for the bandits to reach here?" The boy asked the system as he moved, gathering things to shield the window, and he did not forget the tiny hole in the wall that had regenerated, the thing that almost brought him to his doom with the abyssal beast.

The boy took a deep breath of relief, looking at the doors and windows that he had well shielded.

At least it gives him a little time to hide before the bandits break the door.

The system sneered at the look on the boy's face, keeping silent again. The system silence did not affect the boy. He has learned that the system, as a thing that offered small help to him, it does not care about the life or death of this body that he inhabits, because it could easily find another person to use.

"You have an hour till the bandits arrive," the system reply came too late for the boy to realize that it was talking to him.

The boy turned with a slight frown, and then he nodded. "Yes, that time is enough to calm my mind. By the time the Bandit gets here or breaks the doors or windows, I would have observed their skills by then; fighting them won't be hard."

As the boy said that, he went and hid behind a stone statue. He took a deep breath, standing still.

The time would be long, he thought, slightly bored, and he decided to the system.

The boy's heart was unstable and frightful.

Talking to the system to calm his racing heart was the only way. So he started some random conversation not suitable for the moment.

"Uh, so about the essence. What do you do with it?"

[SYSTEM: I NEED PEACE; SILENCE YOU NEED TO MAINTAIN.]

The boy rolled his eyes and refused to keep silent. "Won't you answer me? Are you keeping some big secret?". You know what is best for you; just give me all the essence. You don't seem to need it from what I observed."

[SYSTEM: The system business does not concern you. Accept what the system provides.]

"What have you offered?" the boy asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes and slapping the scorpion that had somehow crawled to his neck.

[You are disturbing!]

The system voice said with an annoyed tone.

The boy had something to say and wanted to move his lips.

But then the system voice came as chills in his heart.

[ALERT: BANDITS HAVE ARRIVED AT YOUR LOCATION.]

"Damn! you. system, you said an hour"