Flowy black hair reaching down to the shoulders. Deep sunken eyes with no soul in them. A person in blue patient garbs was staring at me with soulless eyes.

"Oh... That's me."

Right.

My reflection on the squeaky clean tiles of the hospital room was almost unrecognizable to me. Maybe because there were no mirrors in my room?

I slowly tried to lift my body, but the shooting pain that spread through me made it impossible.

I gave up and turned on my side. It was a general hospital room, but seeing as I was the only one here it must've been one with more care than the normal rooms.

My mind was rather distorted, it was tough to think.

There was a TV in the room. An AC… "I'm parched."

I turned again and tried to get up one more time. I clenched my teeth through the pain and finally managed to sit up with my back against the wall.

My eyes fluttered around again and landed on the needle on my hand connected to an IV drip.

I tried to reach the bottles of water kept on a side table with my other hand, knocking over a vase.

-Clank!

The vase rolled off the table and fell to the ground, shattering into pieces.

"Tsk."

Suddenly, the door to the room opened up.

"You're awake!"

{You're awake!}

And a translucent blue projection appeared in front of my eyes.

What the fuck?

I tried to reach out to the projection with my hands when someone came closer. It was a nurse from the hospital. She looked at me from right through the projection.

"How are you feeling? Do you need anything?"

Could she not see that thing?

Her hand passed through the projection and landed on my forehead.

"Hm, no fever."

She could definitely not see it. She took her hand back and shifted her gaze down to the broken vase. With a soft smile, she walked over to the other side of the hospital bed and poured me some water.

"Here."

My mind was still too numb to react well, so I meekly reached out and took the water from her. As I slowly sipped on it, the nurse showed me a bright smile.

"Your family left not too long ago, they were here for the last two days. I'll let them know you woke up, ok?"

Two days?

I nodded at her words.

After that, the nurse took my temperature with a thermometer for safety and also tested my blood pressure, the projection still stuck the same in front of my eyes.

After she was done, the nurse gave me another smile.

"A doctor will come to check up on you soon, and don't worry about the vase, I'll get it cleaned up. Use the nurse call button if you need anything, ok?"

With those words, the nurse left the room and closed the door behind her. Soft voices made their way through the door and reached my ears as the nurse seemed to have run into a co-worker.

"Hey, was that the kid from the troll incident? How was it?"

"It's horrible. He almost died trying to save a child and his mother only spent some ten minutes here. I'll call his family now."

"Oh my, the poor kid woke up after three days and then this. He must be so confused."

I turned my head away and tried to block off the sound.

She was lying when she said two days. Ten minutes... this sounded much more believable.

With a sigh, I looked at the projection exclaiming the same words as the nurse still in front of my eyes.

I was too tired to think well, and this thing was too confusing to just believe. My hand reached out to the projection, and just like the nurse's, it passed through.

"Yes, I'm awake goddamnit."

At my words, the projection suddenly flashed and the text changed.

{How are you feeling?! That was quite the hit!}

"Huh…?"

What in the fuck.

Was this some kind of special service? A hologram?

I looked around to my sides and on the table, there must be a receiver or something like that.

{I can't really hear your thoughts so… I'm sorry}

"What the fuck is this?"

{Oh right! You don't know. Stupid, stupid, I should have explained first. Oh god, I'm so stupid!}

Oh wow, this thing can be intense.

{Yes, I'll explain. I'm a system, and you're my host.}

"..."

{...}

"Oh, I see. Hahaha!"

{Yeah. Hahaha!}

"As if that explains anything! What is this?! Some game show? Prank videos?"

{Uh, you didn't understand...? Of course, you didn't. How would anyone understand something like this.}

This is strangely tiring.

{You see, so like, I am a system that was dormant in your body for a long time. You just died three days back and met the last condition to activate me.}

System?

"Like in those novels?"

{Uh, I have like, no idea what novels are}

This was too much to process. I grabbed my head and took in a few deep breaths.

Wait. Did this thing just say I died?

{I really don't have the ability to read your mind}

"What do you mean I died?"

{Exactly what it sounds like. You died, and I absorbed that death to come out of my dormancy. I think I was useful once? Right? Right?}

"Hah... Me? Killed by a Troll? How does that make any sense?"

{A troll is strong enough to level fields, you are just one person.}

This damn thing—

{But, you actually didn't die from that hit. It only knocked you out and broke a dozen of your bones.}

"Then..."

{You died when you tried to get up despite all that and pissed the troll enough for it to pummel you a dozen more times.}

"So that's what happened..."

In the end, I didn't manage to put up a fight at all.

How embarrassing.

Three days had already passed, and the registrations were only open till yesterday, so I missed my chance to register for Agriche as well.

I shook my head to take my mind off of these thoughts. If something pains you, it's best not to look at it.

"So, system thing. Can you show me stuff like my stats and skills without any measurement device? Like in the novels?"

{Yes! I can do that much no problemo! Say status]

"S-status."

Suddenly, the projection in front of me disappeared. It came back again in the form of a large window with text written all over it.

{Host details:

•Name: Ralph Rubinstein

•Age: 16. •Rank: ?? (Calculating)

•Stats:??????? (Calculating)

•Skills:??????? (Calculating)

•Inherent Abilities:?????? (Calculating)

•Gifts:?????? (Calculating)

•Personality: Kind (Active) / Insane, maniacal (dormant)}

"This is just a sea of question marks!"

Another projection appeared next to the large window, similar to the ones that had come up before.

{Uh, I've been trying to calculate your stats but since you are injured and everything I have no idea.}

"I didn't think something like a system would be this useless. Did I injure my head or something from the Troll?"

{Please, don't blame yourself host. It's all me. I wish I had a physical body, so I could end myself.}

"You don't have to be that intense..."

This system was one tiring thing. I was already pretty beat up, but interacting with it made me tire myself even further. I pushed my back down on the bed again and laid flat on it. The system's window's moved further up to stay in my gaze as well.

I closed my eyes and tried to relax for a bit, but then a question popped into my mind and I opened them again.

{Please dismiss me if you're going to sleep!}

... Were the words written on the window of the system.

"Right. But before that. Why do you exist? What is the point of this system? I'm also curious about how and why you latched on to me, but I'm guessing you don't know?"

{You guess correctly. I have no idea.}

Right.

{As for the point of our existence, I don't know about that either. Maybe the other systems would know, but I don't}

"There are other systems?"

{There are. But that aside…}

{I don't know why systems exist, why I came to be, or anything of the sort. But I'm here. So, host. Ralph Rubinstein.}

{Why not use me to achieve your dreams?}

A sharp pain spread in my chest. I could feel my breathing get uneven.

Achieve my dreams? What bullshit.

There must be something behind it. Some reason for this system thing.

Why now?

When I was set on the path to a normal life? As if anything like that makes sense.

{What do you say? We're both stuck together, and I want to be useful. Even if not the best, I'm still a system. I'm sure that we can make many things possible together. So…}

I wanted to push this thing away.

This damned demon tempting me with what I had already given up on.

Pulling me back towards the ambitions that brought me and everyone around me nothing but harm. The ambitions I couldn't forget.

I wanted to say no.

I should say no.

"I'll think on it."

I pulled the blanket back up and covered my face with it, closing my eyes tightly shut.

"Dismiss."

I kept my eyes closed and tried to go back to sleep, but I was too shaken to do so. Thoughts I didn't want to think of came rushing into my mind.

Thoughts of what could have been if I had the chance to go to Agriche too.

Thoughts of how I messed up my plans towards my normal life.

Of how disappointed my family would be when and if they came here. Of how I wished they would be worried and say, 'You did good' instead.

And then, the thoughts of what this system has said.

Pushing all those thoughts to the very depths of my heart, I closed my eyes and tried to sleep.

And then the door to my hospital room opened again and a sweet voice entered my ears.

"What the… said he's awake but this guy is still sleeping... What a waste of time."