"At least my death was painless," Ash's acceptance of death was as unconventional as his demise itself. With a morbid cheer, he stood up ready to explore the new world in front of him.
"After all, there's no use crying over spoiled milk, it will only waste the luxury in the afterlife. I'm dead; I mean, I couldn't change what had already happened."
"So, what kind of world am I in? According to the information I've gathered from various novels, the possibility of me being in a simple world like Earth without any magic or other weird phenomena is basically near 1%. And where are the memories of this body? Shouldn't this be the moment when I feel a sudden hellish headache, with a flood of memories pouring into my mind out of thin air?"
Ash thought confusedly, trying to recall something about his new body. "Why am he so sure that he is now in a new body, not in his old one? Well, because Ash's previous body wasn't as pale white as it is now, and he also had a dense beard on my face, which now it's as clean as a baby's face. Moreover, his hair in my previous life was slightly curly, not like the upside-pointy needle hair of a certain Saiyan monkey.
"Now, this is not good news for me. No new memories at all mean a lot of unknown trouble. I hope the people of this world know about amnesia; otherwise, things are going to get very bad, especially if I can't understand their language."
[ *DING...
"Damn it! Who rang the bell?"
Suddenly, a jarring chime pierced the tranquility, making Ash jump a good foot in the air, frightened to the point of peeing in his pants. He whipped around, eyes darting nervously, searching for the source of the offending alarm. But all he found was the gentle rustle of leaves and the imposing height of towering trees.
The chime, however, echoed again, this time within his mind. "*DING…" "F*ck!" Ash hissed, but suddenly a bizarre thought appeared in his mind.
"Wait a moment, the bell sound seems to ring in my mind... No way, don't tell me I also have the System, the legendary Guider of literally 90% of world travelers." A surge of excitement replaced Ash's earlier panic. "F*ck, yes! Now, this is called hitting the jackpot! Hahaha, this grandpa is going to turn this world upside-down soon, hahaha..."
[ *Ding! Congratulations, Host, for being chosen by The One And Only Greatest "Infinite Horizons System" in the cosmos!
Special Note:- Please say "System" to access all features. ]
His jubilant laugh was promptly met by a notification, a transparent blue box materializing before Ash's eyes
With an eager grin, Ash did just that, his voice cracking with barely contained glee. "System!"
[ System Version:- 1.0
* Status
* Skill
* Inventory
* Quest
* Save and Load ]
Ash's mouth gaped like a landed fish, eyes bulging in disbelief. "Oh gods," he rasped, voice thick with awe, "tell me I'm not dreaming! Does my system actually have the super OP "Save and Load" feature like those in games? Hahahaha..." Ash's maniacal laughter tore through the quiet forge, scattering birds from their leafy perches and startling nearby creatures.
"Haaah... so much happiness... I never felt this much joy before, not even when I first got paid for my online novel," Ash muttered emotionally in disbelief while staring at the last feature of his system.
Anyone who has played any game once in their life probably knows about this most common and core function of any game. It allows players to save their data so they never have to worry about starting the game from the beginning if they die unexpectedly, or if the game crashes or their device turns off in the middle. This is a very common feature in every game, but having this simple feature come to reality directly crosses every possible boundary of any category.
"At least in this life, I don't have to worry about suddenly catching Lady Death's attention for no reason. I am now the controller of my own life," Ash muttered joyfully and impatiently clicked on the "Save and Load" option.
Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.
As he did that, the screen morphed, revealing a stark binary landscape of SAVE and LOAD in bold letters, flanked by a simple explanation. Below the introduction of the feature were two different columns. The left side had options for LOAD, SAVE, and DELETE, while the right side had a long row of empty entry spaces from 1 to 50.
Ash didn't try to save the file immediately, instead, he devoured the feature's description, eyes narrowed in scrutiny.
[ Save and Load:-
Description: Upon the Host's demise, the soul would leave his body and hover above it for the next 10 seconds until the host selected a saved file.
Special Note: If the host didn't choose any entry file within the time limit, after 10 seconds, the Host's soul would be erased from existence by the defensive mechanism of this world, and the host would die permanently.
Remark: Don't give birth to false hope to get into the reincarnation cycle after death. That is too much luxury for an outsider like you. ]
"Huh? This seems more like an instruction guide than an intro to the feature. Other than the useless time limit matter, it gives latterly no useful information. This system of mine doesn't seem very reliable," Ash muttered dissatisfiedly, clearly not very convinced by the simple intro.
[ Please select a file slot to fill the current time node:
File 1:- EMPTY
File 2:- EMPTY
File 3:- EMPTY
File 4:- EMPTY
File 5:- EMPTY
.
..
...
File 50:- EMPTY ]
Seeing the rows of empty file logs, Ash couldn't help but hammer his fist in the air in excitement. He took a moment to collect himself before carefully selecting the first and fiftieth file log. The first is a cornerstone for his journey's beginning. The fiftieth, so if in the future he wanted to restart everything, he could do it, instead of regretting that time.
The transparent window flickered in response, and new entries materialized on the second column beneath the 'File number 1 and 50th':
[ *Ding:- No.1 and No.50 File Saved.
Location:- South-East of Woodworth Town
Day:- 1
Total Saved:- 1
Death Count:- 0
Coins:- 0 ]
"Woodworth Town?" Ash mused aloud, a hint of amusement in his tone. "A very simple name, but at least this means I am not too deep inside the forest and near a town. That's a relief. Currently, I urgently need to understand what kind of world I am in."
His gaze lingered on the mention of coins and death count, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Also, why mention money in the save log option? Shouldn't it be in the inventory? And the death count... Is the system looking forward to counting how many times I will die before giving up?" Ash said, annoyingly. Seeing that the system was playing dead and not giving him any response, he dropped the matter helplessly. At least this proved one of his theories: his system doesn't have its own awareness.
Shaking his head, he exited the Save and Load page and mentally clicked on the Status option.
[ Status:-
Name:- Ash
Level:- 1 (0/20)
Health Point (H.P.):- (45/45)
Mana Point (M.P.):- (10/10)
Race:- Human (Tier: Low)
Age:- 18
Strength:- 6
Vitality:- 9
Intelligence:- 4
Agility:- 5
Charisma:- 7
Luck:- 10 ]
"Well, the status is quite simple and damn poor," Ash grumbled, scanning the underwhelming stats. But a glimmer of hope sparked in his eyes as they landed on the last attribute. "Sigh, at least my luck is very high, which means I am not going to die easily and meaninglessly like last time..."
Just as Ash reveled in the false comfort, believing that his status was completely normal and it shouldn't be a problem to survive in this new world just with his so-called high luck, suddenly two sets of footsteps pounded the earth, approaching from behind with alarming speed. Before Ash could even turn, a sharp, searing pain erupted at the base of his skull. His eyes widened in shock, the world tilting and blurring as he collapsed to the ground, consciousness fading into darkness.
[ Game Over! ]