"Waah!"
Deklan sprang up the moment he opened his eyes.
He looked to the side, realizing that the sun was already all the way up.
"Tch, did I fall asleep in the mud? Man, this body is damn weak," Deklan scratched the back of his head and stood up, annoyed that a few measly hours of labor already dropped him to the ground. He might not be an MMA fighter or something flashy in his previous world, but he prided himself on his working endurance.
Someone like him, who'd managed to turn things around, was bound to have self-discipline.
Or at least knew when to work hard and when to play hard.
"Oh, this is nice," Deklan nodded as he watched the mud and pebbles slide down his body.
Seems like being a Ghost has its own perk.
Just as he was about to head back inside, he stopped and turned to his right.
At that moment, his expression contorted in horror.
"I hadn't closed the grave yet? So much for respecting the dead!" Deklan slapped his cheeks, realizing that he had fallen asleep before he could finish the work. Swiftly, he grabbed the hoe and began closing the grave. "I can't believe I had gotten so comfortable being beside the dead."
[You are technically the dead right now, host.]
"I'm not talking to you!"
[Heh. Deadbeat.]
"Bitch."
Moments later, when he finished burying the corpses, he went straight inside.
He looked at his own corpse and immediately opened the Shop menu.
…
SHOP
[Equipment]
[Consumables]
[Ritual]
[Miscellaneous]
…
"Hoho, there's quite a selection." Deklan rubbed his chin as he inspected the menu.
Of course, most were self-explanatory, but he did want to know more about Ritual, as it's the one that he knows the least. So naturally, he mentally tapped on the Miscellaneous, "Fuck the other ones, I want to know if there's going to be a phone or something."
Deklan scrolled through the Miscellaneous section and found items he expected to find.
Furniture, tools, clothes, and everything in between.
Most came from this world.
But his eyes lit up when he finally found something that interests him greatly.
…
[Air Conditioner]
Rank: ZZZ
Description: Blows a chilling breeze strong enough to cool an entire house even in summer!
Price: 10 Spooky Dollars.
…
"Yes… Yes…" Deklan rubbed his hands, smiling devilishly in obsession. "Give me more modern items. Fuck high fantasy. Fuck the traditional. I want this house to turn into a pentfuckinghouse in a metropolis city where everything is a click away!"
His excitement abruptly ended when he noticed the rank was ZZZ.
Surely the system was messing with him.
But that wasn't the most shocking part.
"What?! System, how is it that damn expensive?" Deklan asked.
All the ordinary tools and even furniture he had seen so far ranged between 10 cents to 1 SD, yet somehow this air conditioner was priced at a staggering 10 SD. He could technically save up for it, but that wasn't the real issue.
Deklan was horrified at the implication.
If an air conditioner costs this much, then the price of other modern items would be astronomical.
Phones? TVs? Toilet? Game consoles? It might've cost him an arm later.
[Buying things from your world will ruin the fantasy feel, host. It's not recommended. And a bad return on investment.]
"What are you, my accountant? If you don't want me buying it, then don't put it in the Shop. Duh."
[Removing air conditioner from the Shop…]
"Wait, wait, wait! I'm kidding! Don't remove it!"
Deklan quickly navigated away from the Miscellaneous menu so as not to instigate the system further.
He quickly navigated to the ritual section and spotted the Body Reconstruction Ritual priced at exactly 5 SD, as the system stated earlier, which was all the SD he had currently on hand. Still, completing the sudden quest would earn him 2 SD back and an item called Basic Mana Candy on top of it.
It's going to be worth it.
[Do you confirm the purchase of Body Reconstruction Ritual for 5 Spooky Dollars?]
"Yep."
[Do you want to use it instantly?]
"Yeep."
Swish!
Just as soon as the word left his mouth, an intricate network of runes—and glowing lines appeared beneath the corpse. He took a step back in marvel, watching closely as a ritual circle was formed and glowed.
It only took half a minute to form.
Once the circle was complete, the entire corpse was devoured by blinding light.
And then, Deklan felt a forceful pull that yoinked him from where he stood.
He was pulled into the corpse, and before he knew it, the world became a mass of blinding light.
…
"Brian… Brian!" A woman wearing a faded dress of coarse fabric called whisperingly, urgently, as she followed a man leading in front of her through the muddy path. "We shouldn't be here. What if those people are still around? We're going to get in trouble!"
"Relax," A tan-skinned man with white hair waved his hand nonchalantly. "It's been hours."
"I know, but those people could still be here!"
"Young Master Deklan has a couple of loyal guards, but the strongest is only a Bronze-rank Exorcist. If those people were really sent here to take out the young master—ten minutes is more than enough time to end them all."
"Let's go back, okay? Give it another day."
"And let the others take the young master's valuables? Come on, Lilia."
Stopping for a moment, the tan-skinned man, Brian, glanced over his shoulder and smiled assuringly.
He flexed his bicep that was barely there, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
"Fine… If I see something bad, I'm running." Lilia helplessly followed from behind.
Upon reaching the end of the makeshift road, the two continued for a couple more minutes until they reached a slope. And not too far away, there was a small hut which was their destination—the humble abode of the exiled young master.
But the two paused, and their faces froze when they spotted something or someone.
Young Master Deklan was skipping around the front yard with a big smile on his face, barefoot, and even humming a tune as if he had lost his mind. "What the fuck? Did he actually survive? Wait, is he possessed right now?"
"Lilia," Brian looked back. "I think we should co—"
His gaze turned vacant when he saw that Lilia was already running away, holding her dress so not to slip on the mud.
"Are you serious, woman?! At least say something if you're running!"
Brian chased after Lilia as the two abandoned their sneaking-into-the-hut-and-stealing-valuables operation.
…
Meanwhile, Deklan stopped and looked to the side, eyes narrowing.
He thought he heard someone, but guess not.
"Ah…" Deklan stretched his arms wide, basking in the sunlight as if feeling it for the very first time. "Now I get why Ghosts crave a body… Nothing compares to the feeling of the flesh. It must be depressing for them. Everything's muted when you're a ghost—It makes existing feel… dull."
Upon merging with his real body, he immediately feels a surge of exhilaration.
It made him want to skip and run around, and he did exactly that.
"I can also feel that I'm stronger physically now…" He mumbled, clenching his fists a couple of times.
[Check your status window, host.]
"Alright, status!"
…
Name: Deklan Tiernan
Persona: - (Single and ready to mingle)
Rank: A Fart
——
STAT(S)
Strength: F+
Agility: F-
Endurance: F
Intelligence: E
Perception: F
Mental: C
Sanity: 100%
——
SKILL(S)
[Ghost Conqueror] [Dual Existence]
——
TRAIT(S)
[Iron Spine]
…
"Oh, there are no more Z-grade stats now. My strength, agility, endurance, and intelligence changed. Intelligence being the highest," Deklan nodded his head, pleased to see this as it mirrored exactly what he felt. "But why is that, though? My intelligence increased so much."
"Not to mention, my perception..." He frowned and rubbed his chin.
Earlier, his perception was at a D grade.
Now, it plummeted to a measly F grade, which was a steep fall.
"Is it because I'm not a Ghost anymore?" Deklan folded his arms—contemplating. "Since I'm a Ghost earlier, maybe that's the reason why my Perception is higher, and I can sense that Red Pumpkin Head. Now that I'm alive, I sacrificed that to gain back my physical stats."
"Interesting…" Deklan nodded as he needed to experiment more with his traits and skills.
[Sudden Quest completed!]
[1x Basic Mana Candy and 2 Spooky Dollars have been rewarded.]
Out of curiosity, Deklan immediately opened the Inventory menu and took out the Basic Mana Candy.
A bright orange light flared in his palm.
And when it dimmed and faded, a small candy wrapped in a baby-blue foil rested in his hand.
Deklan held it up, inspecting it from every angle like checking whether the cash was real or not. "No brand, just a plain candy," He muttered—and then gave it a quick sniff. "Smells like bubblegum. Not my favorite, but I'll take it."
…
[Basic Mana Candy]
Rank: F
Description: A candy that contains a sliver of mana. Consume it to absorb its magical energy. Tips: Twist the wrapper's edge anti-clockwise to change its flavor.
…
"It can change flavor? Sweet." Deklan put out his tongue and twisted the wrapper's edge, and as the description stated, each twist changed the color of the wrapping. He kept twisting until the wrapper was earthy brown. "What's a better flavor than dark chocolate? Nothing!"
Once he settled on the flavor, he opened the wrapper and flicked the candy into his mouth.
He bit down on the candy and realized that it was chewy, exactly as he liked.
Not to mention, the dark chocolate flavor was richly bitterr and thick.
In the next moment, Deklan raised his hand when a sudden warm sensation spread across his mouth and then continued to every nook and cranny of his body. It was akin to being massaged, and without even needing to ask the system, he already knew what this was.
"So, this is what mana felt like… It's soothing." Deklan smiled to himself.
[Notice: the host's rank has increased!]
[A Fart → 1-star Iron]
[All stats have increased slightly!]
…
STAT(S)
Strength: F+ → E-
Agility: F- → F+
Endurance: F → F+
Intelligence: E
Perception: F
Mental: C
Sanity: 100%
…
Even though the increase wasn't that much, Deklan wasn't complaining.
He reckoned that the System was playing with his rank as being 'A Fart' because he was simply too weak compared to other Iron rank Exorcists or Ghosts. Now that his rank had climbed to Iron 1, he was at least in the leaderboard.
"Why didn't my intelligence, perception, and mental stats rise?"
[Increase in Intelligence stat is negligible. Perception and Mental stats will not rise with all rank-ups.]
"I see..." Deklan nodded. "Speaking of mana, doesn't the Ward also have something like that?"
Deklan headed to the backyard again and approached the Ward.
Once the menu appeared, he realized that he was right.
Under the Ward menu, there was the Fruit Bearing section with a timer beside it.
As he remembered, the Ward would produce 1 fruit every single day, which should help him grow stronger.
"For better or worse, I think I'm forced to make this my compound, aren't I?" Deklan looked around the place, realizing that if his theory was true, then he couldn't leave the Ward. "It's going to be hard in the future if anyone found out about it…"
Deklan's shoulders slumped for a second.
But then, his face lit up again, "What's the point of thinking something depressing? Bad days will come in the future. As long as today is not—then there's no reason to be depressed. Put on a smile, guys."