♤ revised v.1♤
Arch groaned, his eyelids feeling as heavy as lead. As he peeled himself off the cold floor of the ruined house, a sharp, stabbing pain flared in his temples.
"Ugh... what happened?"
He looked down at his hands. They were stained a dark, rusty brown. His white chiton was no longer white; it was stiff and sticky, clinging to his skin like a second, morbid layer of fabric. The memory of the screaming and the blood was a jagged fragment in his mind, slipping away the harder he tried to grasp it. His brain felt foggy, a natural defense against the sheer trauma his body had just endured.
Growwwwwwl.
The sound was thunderous. "Right... food. I need food or I'm going to die for real this time."
He stood up shakily, his head spinning. He remembered something—a promise of help. "Gramps... the gifts. He said something about a... System?"
Arch took a deep breath, trying to steady his racing heart. "Okay. System... come out! Arise! Appear!"
He waited. Silence. He snapped his fingers repeatedly. Nothing but the sound of his own heavy breathing and the wind whistling through the cracks in the Kominka—the traditional Japanese farmhouse he seemed to be trapped in
"This is hopeless," he muttered, leaning against a rotting wooden pillar. "Is it broken? Did I break the world before I even started?"
Then, a sound echoed through the room. It wasn't a digital ding or a heroic fanfare.
CREEAAAAKKKK.
It sounded like a heavy, rusted iron door being forced open. A translucent window shimmered into existence before his eyes.
"What the hell was that creak?" Arch jumped back, nearly tripping over his own feet. "A horror vibe? Seriously? I wanted a cool AI, not a haunted house!"
The window wasn't ready yet. A progress bar sat in the center of his vision.
[ DOWNLOADING RESOURCES: 3%... ]
"You have got to be kidding me," Arch slumped against the wall. "Who designs a system that needs to download updates in the middle of a deserted island? I'm starving, and I'm waiting on a loading bar."
For the next several minutes, he paced the small room, cursing the invisible architects of his new life. But the blood loss had taken more out of him than he realized. The room began to tilt. His vision blurred, and a sudden, cold numbness washed over his limbs. Before the bar could even hit 10%, Arch collapsed back into the shadows, unconscious once more.
[ 27 HOURS, 34 MINUTES LATER ]
Arch's eyes fluttered open. The sunlight was hitting the floor at a different angle. He felt weak, but the sharp agony in his head had settled into a dull throb.
CREEAAAAKKKK.
He looked up. The bar was gone. In its place was a wall of text:
SYSTEM SUCCESSFULLY INSTALLED. ON BEHALF OF THE SYSTEM INDUSTRY, WE ARE HAPPY TO WELCOME THE HOST. BEWARE OF SCAMMERS. CREEAAAAKKKK.
"Finally," Arch wheezed. "And the voice... why does it sound so high-pitched and annoying? It sounds like Pica from One Piece had a child with a rusty hinge."
The system offered no reply, just another unsettling creak. Arch performed a few shaky Tai Chi breaths to calm his nerves. "Okay. Get it together. System... I'm starving. Give me some food."
CREEAAAAKKKK.
[ DO YOU WISH TO MAKE A PURCHASE? ]
"I can buy food?" Arch's eyes lit up. "Yes! Show me the menu!"
A interface appeared that looked suspiciously like an old web browser.
[ DAILY LIFE NECESSITIES TAB ] [ SEARCH: _________ ]
"A search bar? Fine. I want a burger. A big, spicy burger."
The system processed the request with another agonizing creak.
[ ITEM: SPICY BURGER ] [ PRICE: 1 PS ]
"A price? You're a scam!" Arch shouted at the empty air. "I'm a stranded kid! Where am I supposed to get points?"
The screen flickered, shifting to a new tab.
[ WALLET TAB ] [ CONVERSION RATE: 1 MONEY = 1 PS ] [ CURRENT BALANCE: 100 MONEY ]
Arch blinked. "Oh. Gramps must have left me an allowance. I guess I shouldn't have called the system a scam... sorry."
[ SYSTEM: WHATEVER! ]
"Did it just catch an attitude with me?" Arch shook his head. "Never mind. Convert 50 money into points and buy the damn burger."
The numbers shifted.
[ MONEY: 50 | POINTS: 50 ] [ PROCESSING PURCHASE... ]
"So slow..." Arch drooled slightly at the thought of the spice.
[ PURCHASE SUCCESSFUL. PRODUCT DELIVERED TO INVENTORY. ]
Arch focused his mind, and a new window manifested.
[ INVENTORY ]
[ x1 SPICY HAMBURGER ]
[ x1 MYSTERIOUS LETTER ]
Arch froze. The burger was there, but it was the second item that caught his eye. A letter? He reached into the shimmering interface...
----- to be continued-----