"Suitable host detected."
The cold voice echoed inside my mind, and for a moment I forgot how to breathe. My heart pounded in my chest. My throat tightened, and a strange mix of panic and excitement rose inside me.
"Is this… the System?" I whispered to myself.
No answer.
Just as I was about to decide I'd finally lost my mind and was hallucinating, something appeared in front of my eyes—a thin, translucent light panel, floating in midair. It looked like a screen only I could see, hanging there in the darkness.
[LOADING SYSTEM INTERFACE…][Scanning initial data…][Creating new host profile…]
I blinked rapidly and reached out to touch it. My fingers passed straight through nothing but air, yet the text remained perfectly still.
Right then, I thought to myself,"Finally, the main character power-up has arrived. I was seriously worried I'd get deleted before the story even started."
The panel shifted, and new lines appeared.
[HOST INFORMATION]Name: Ethan CrossAge: 18 (Temporary body)Original Age: 25Race: Human (?)Level: 1Status: Weak, malnourished, slight mental instabilitySynchronization Rate: 1%
"Synchro… what?" I muttered.
The panel scrolled down.
[Basic Attributes]Strength: 3Agility: 4Endurance: 2Intelligence: 7Perception: 6Luck: 1
[Additional Note:]For this body, these values are classified as "embarrassingly low."
"Is that comment also from you?" I asked through clenched teeth.
Silence.
"Hey, System. Can you talk to me?" I asked.
After a brief pause, new text appeared.
[Query detected.][Limited interaction mode: ACTIVE.][Please ask clear and functional questions.]
"Good. So we can talk," I said, taking a deep breath. "Alright then… where am I?"
This time, a small warning icon popped up in the corner of the interface, followed by new lines.
[Location Data: Limited.][Known Name:] Underground Ancient City – ????? Ruins[Danger Level:] Cannot be calculated[Suggestion:] Leave this place as soon as possible!!!
"I could have guessed that much on my own…" I grumbled.
Right after I said that, the panel flashed. The text that appeared next glowed in a yellow-ish hue.
"So quests are in yellow, and emergencies will probably be red," I thought. "Nice."
A new yellow-tinted window unfolded in front of me:
[MAIN QUEST CREATED]Quest: Escape the ruins aliveDescription:You made your first contact with the System in an extremely dangerous place. The ????? Ruins are not completely dead. Leave before they decide to pay attention to you.Objective: Reach the exit of the underground city.Reward:– +4% System Synchronization– 1 random basic skill (Low Grade)Failure:– Host body will be classified as "unusable."– System will be destroyed.(System Note:Theoretically. In practice, you will be destroyed first.)
My throat went dry.
"So if I die… both of us are gone?" I asked.
New text appeared immediately.
[Correction:]The host's destruction will cause a temporary disruption to the System.[New host search protocol: READY.]
"So I'm still not that important. Got it," I muttered, fighting the urge to laugh hysterically.
A small line of text appeared at the bottom of the quest window:
[Additional Condition:]Time limit: 23:59:59Initializing countdown…
A digital timer appeared at the edge of my vision and began ticking down.
"Twenty-four hours…" I whispered. "If I don't get out of here in a day… my second life ends in this hole."
The thought sat in my stomach like a rock. My knees trembled—not from hunger this time, but from plain, raw fear.
Just then, I heard a sound.
A faint clatter of stone somewhere deeper in the cavern. I reflexively turned my head toward it.
"Who's there?" I called out.
My voice bounced off the stone walls, echoing back at me before fading into the darkness.
The interface flickered again. This time, the text flashed in red.
[WARNING]Unidentified entity detected nearby.[Estimated Threat Level:] Higher than host.
"Great…" I thought. "What isn't stronger than me right now?"
A quiet dragging sound echoed through the dark, like something hard was scraping over stone. I squinted, but the cavern was so dark that even the shadows seemed to be hiding inside other shadows.
Another window popped up, now back to a yellow tint:
[New Function Unlocked:][Mini-Map – Restricted Version]Shows a rough outline of the nearby area. For more detail, increase synchronization rate.
A small, circular mini-map appeared in the top-right corner of my vision. My position was marked by a pulsing white dot. Not too far away, a red dot was moving slowly… toward me.
"So that's the thing that can kill me," I said under my breath.
I swallowed, clenched my fists. I was weak, hungry, and terrified… but I had already died once. This was my second chance.
And this time, I had a System.
No matter how ruthless it was.
"Alright, System," I whispered. "Let's get out of these ruins first. After that… we negotiate."
On the mini-map, the red dot inched closer and closer to my position.