The metallic taste in his mouth made him frown. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by the clear night sky.
The moon shone brightly like an eye watching his every move, and the stars were visible. It was unlike anything that Cia had seen in the cities.
They were like silver glitters sprinkled on black-colored paper.
No signature human pollution?
That woke Cia up completely. IMPOSSIBLE!
He slowly sat up, his hand touching the rough and coarse road underneath him.
He looked around and concluded that it was probably very deep in the night, judging from how dead the street was, and the fact that no car had run him over yet.
But that wasn't the main point.
"Ugh... What's going on? Why am I on the road?" Cia had no memories of having sleepwalking issues.
The moment he talked, he felt that there was an accumulation of liquid inside his mouth. It tasted metallic. He spat on the ground and looked at the dark-red substance.
"It's blood," Cia confirmed.
He pushed himself up, hands trembling as sticky blood dripped from his nose, mouth, and his eyes. The bleeding seemed to have stopped, but the blood was there.
Looking around, he realized that the buildings seemed to be unfamiliar. No, not the buildings, but the architectural designs.
"What's going on?" He felt confused. He looked down and saw that his pajamas had also changed into something.
He was wearing a decent-looking three-piece suit, slacks, and leather shoes. On his side was a briefcase made out of unknown material.
Cia went silent as he touched his forehead. He remembered... he seemed to have been shot to death, right? Clearly, he's alive and kicking now. This should not be his real body.
And then, it happened.
A ding echoed inside his mind, clear and dramatic like someone had dropped a coin in a vending machine.
[System Online.]
[I am your Golden Finger, your All-Powerful System! Fear not, Oh Chosen One! From this moment forward, your fate is mine to guide! Anything you wish, I shall aid you in achieving it. Immense power, eternal glory, beautiful ladies, or the finest food a man can taste!]
Such a loud, booming declaration almost knocked Cia down. This guy is speaking inside his head. After a second, he finally digested the information.
System? Is this the legendary system?!
Cia was in awe. His heart raced as his imagination soared. This was it, the moment he turned from a nobody into someone destined for greater things.
God finally looked at him with kind eyes and compensated for all his sufferings!
He took a deep breath, feeling the moment, and whispered, "I'm… going to make something of myself…"
But before the dramatic event could even continue, another ding came.
---
[Entrance Mission 1: Find your way home.
Countdown: 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Reward: Memories of the Original Owner
Punishment: Both the System and the Host will be flayed alive until death or shock.]
---
He thought he was hearing things. "…What?"
Cia's hot-headedness calmed down the moment he read the 'flayed alive', but why was it that both the system and the host shared the same punishment after failure?!
Just as he was about to ask, the system screamed.
[Ahhhhhhh! Why am I included to the punishment! Just flay the Host alone! Don't drag me into this!]
Loyalty -100
Cia choked. Once again, his head hurt from the scream. If it were normal sounds, he could have just covered his ears, but the screams were directly transmitted to his mind.
Cia's mouth twitched. "What's going on?" Where's the mighty display that you showed a while ago?
Hearing Cia's question, the system realized that the host could hear it talking. It acted like it hadn't said a thing a while ago and begged shamelessly.
[Huhuhuhuhu Host. Please complete this mission. I don't want to be skinned alive. You are this system's only hope.]
"…Are you crying?"
[I—I'm trying my best, okay?! That mission was preprogrammed. I have no idea why it is. Sob. I was just ordered to assist you reach the pinnacle of greatness.]
Cia looked dead-done. "You got scammed."
Time was ticking, and Cia needed to take action quickly. Although he had lots of questions, it clearly wasn't the time to dwell on them.
Great. Absolutely fantastic. He had a system, and the system was like a useless, wailing toddler.
Guess he matched the luck of the original owner who suddenly died from unknown causes.
"Okay. Fine. I'll rely on myself." He looked around. There were multiple rows of houses in the distance. It was silent and dark. Not a single light on. Not a single clue where 'home' even was.
"This felt like the start of a crime scene." Cia got chills.
[B-believe in you! You can do it! Go, Host! Go!]
"Stop cheering. You're making it worse."
[Sorry...]
Cia bent down and opened the briefcase. There should be a clue here, right?
Fortunately, the gods were not cruel enough. He could still understand the language.
He skipped the useless papers and found something useful. It was a card made of cardboard.
Arcian Ikaris.
The original body had the same name as him.
[Host, you are amazing! I'm sure that we'll finish this task in no time!]
Is this system one of those motivational ones?
Cia sneered. "Oh, you're too confident in me. I guess you don't know my background?" he said as he took out a piece of handkerchief and wet it with a bit of water from his jug.
[Uhm... Whatever your background is, it doesn't affect the fact that you are reliable,] the system said, its voice cautious. Cia seemed to be decent, right? At least, that was the system's first impression.
Wiping his face, Cia had a look of mischief on his face and gave the system a smile. "I'm a former gigolo who catered to rich widows and divorcées. You sure you trust me with your life?"
[Ah?!] The system was shocked. It couldn't believe that its host was a person that lived off women.
"So that means I'm nothing without those rich ladies. I guess the two of us will be flayed to death." After making sure that there was no longer blood on his face, he stood up and started approaching one of the houses.
He knocked on one of the doors and hoped the resident wasn't hostile.
The door opened. Peeking from the inside was a grumpy-looking old man.
Cia smiled apologetically. "Sorry to bother you… Do you know where the Ikaris residence is? I… seem to be a bit… lost."
The elderly man furrowed his brows and looked at him up and down. "Ikaris? Oh… two streets down, last corner on the left. Large fence. Can't miss it."
He then promptly closed the door, almost smashing it into Cia's face.
Cia sighed. "Two streets down, corner… Got it."
Since there was a timer for the task, Cia ran toward the direction the older man pointed.
"Man, this body was weak as hell." He was already panting after running for two minutes.
[Did you see that? So unfriendly! Are people in this world all this hostile?] The system started chitchatting, clearly with no consciousness of being a freeloader.
"In this strange place, it would have been good enough not to get shot when knocking on the door." Cia had low requirements and didn't think much of it.
His heart was about to burst from running. He asked the system, "How much time is left?"
[1 hour and 6 minutes]
[Host! There is still much time left! No need to rush!] The system was very optimistic about the progress.
Cia was far more pessimistic. "Don't celebrate yet. What if something happened on our way there? It could be encountering thieves or even human traffickers. Worse, maybe that old man pointed us toward a trap."
[That's dark. Where's the basic human trust that you humans talk about?]
"The last thing I trusted was you. Look how it ended up," Cia said, sounding very aggrieved.
[I—I never lied! I can really help you reach greatness!]
That sounded very unreliable. Cia was filled with doubt. "How?"
[Well, I can learn.]
Sure enough, useless as ever.
Finally, Cia arrived at the 'Ikaris family home'. The fence was really large. He knocked on the gate and called out, "Hello? Is anyone here?"
It was silent.
"Fuck, worst case is that no one is inside. There wasn't any key in my briefcase. Even if there are people present, they should be already asleep now." Cia was feeling hopeless. Should he climb up the action? He bet this body probably couldn't bear such an action.
Then he heard the door open. Someone was coming.
Cia waited patiently. The gate was unlocked. When it opened, what greeted him was a young boy wearing a strange-looking robe. On his neck hung a long beaded necklace.
He stared at Cia's face for a good five seconds before squinting. "Big brother?" he sounded very unsure.
Ahmm, was I supposed to be his brother? Clueless Cia just nodded and went along with it. "Yes. I just arrived."
The young boy let Cia in and locked the gate. The moment Cia stepped inside, the mission was marked as a success.
---
[Entrance Mission 1: Find your way home. (Complete)
Reward: Memories of the Original Owner (Transmitting in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1)]
---
The moment the countdown finished, Cia felt like the back of his head was hammered. It was so sudden and painful.
He couldn't even struggle; he thought that the young boy had attacked him. No, when his body hit the ground, he saw the boy rushing toward him with a shocked expression.
It was really the memory transmission, Cia thought. Of course, those painless or one-paragraph descriptions of memory transmission were a lie, just like the system.
He mentally gave the world the middle finger before fainting.