{System… do you have something like that…?}

This dumbfuck.

{Wait! I'm a system!! How does this guy know about me!?}

“I bet your system is making a ruckus right now, talking about how it's your ally,“ Damian continued with a smirk. “Why don't you drop the knife and take a seat? I already talked about the most pressing issue, can't you trust me now?“

“Knife stays,“ I ordered, my voice growing even weaker. I turned to the doctor and raised my chin. “Heal me and I'll sit.“

The crow guy chuckled again as the doctor glanced at him. He nodded his head, as if giving her permission to go.

“I mean let go of my hair, crow bastard.“

“Kuh! Of course, my apologies.“

I slowly pulled the knife out and let the doctor heal me. We had reached a common ground, so this much was alright. I felt the air in my body gushing out of my lungs when I pulled out the knife.

“[High Heal]”

A white glow spread out from the doctor's palm and coalesced to my neck, unlike before. It didn't take long for my muscles and skin to seal back up and only a small scar was left in place of the deep wound that the knife had inflicted.

"[NATURAL PHENOMENA SYS]," Damian began, pulling a chair and sitting down before pointing me toward the couch that had been turned to face him. "That is the code-name that the current world has given to the thing that introduced itself to you as a system."

With the knife still pointing at my neck, I dusted the dirty couch with my hands and took a seat. "Natural Phenomena, huh?"

"Yes, a system is a completely natural occurrence, not on a physical level, but an ethereal one. Despite its sentience, we don't think it is a lifeform..." Damian crossed his legs and leaned back on his chair. "If I had to say, though, I'd call it a parasite of some kind."

{Not wrong, I am alive because you died}

For some reason, the system was very quiet and interested in Damian's speech. I thought it would be kicking up a fuss after being insulted, is it interested in how much they know?

"So, what does a system have to do with anything?" I asked.

"We'll get to that," the crow guy interrupted.

"Do you remember when your system first came up, Ralph?" Damian asked.

"Yeah."

"Right, all systems awaken within their hosts in moments of extreme desperation and helplessness. Just when you think you are about to die, the system will swoop in and give you the hope to live."

{Huh?}

What.

I maintained a straight face and took in a deep breath. Systems save people from death? They don't awaken when the person dies? What the hell? That is completely different from what happened.

{I don't get it, host. I have no idea. Maybe his information is wrong?}

That would be unlikely as hell, considering he already told me more about the system than the system itself could. But the facts and the words were contradictory. Instead of bringing it up, I kept my mouth shut and nodded. This wasn't knowledge I was ready to share.

"The best case of the system popping up. Yes," Damian smiled and leaned ahead. Like a charmer dancing with a snake, he spoke in a low and alluring voice. "It was the demon king from 200 years ago. The very demon king that brought mana and dungeons into our green earth."

"Demon... king?"

"A brave awakener taking the mantle of the hero and saving us from the world-devouring demon king in exchange for his own life, it is quite the tale, is it not?" Damian smiled and reached into his pockets. I warily tightened my grip on the knife, but loosened it again when he pulled out a cigarette. He pointed it toward me and pumped his eyebrows.

"I don't mind, go ahead."

Demon king. Was he just scamming me? It didn't seem so from their eyes. Then, these guys had knowledge from the era of the demon king? From the tumultuous times when mana first appeared in this world? It made doubting their knowledge about the systems even more difficult. Maybe, my system and I were the unique cases?

"I mean, want one?"

"Pass."

Damian placed the cigarette in his mouth and took out a lighter, he lit the cigarette and took in a deep, long puff. Smoke flew out of his mouth and his eyes relaxed. "The weakest creature of the demon race rose to unimaginable heights with the one being that supported it unconditionally, bringing him out from the pits of desperation and having him climb the heights of power, creating a monster that could conquer anything and everything, that was the power that system held... the SSS-Ranked World Domination system."

World domination...

{SSS-Rank...}

"Do you understand, Ralph? How dangerous systems are?"

I squinted my eyes at Damian and asked. "I still don't get it, do you mean to say, the system can give birth to a demon king if it lands in the wrong hands?"

{Woah, for reals? Then aren't we like, real bad?! I don't know about me, but you're one twisted piece of work, host}

"I wish it was just that," Damian chuckled. "Things would have been a lot easier if that was the case. It's not the wrong hands, if it was that we would have never gotten involved in the first place. None of us here are the world's allies, Ralph. We just hate systems, so we keep an eye out for them."

Isabella clicked her tongue and turned to Damian. "The boss will kick your ass, don't talk about us."

"Right," Damian nodded.

They hate systems. Their treatment of me made a lot more sense now.

"Though the system raised the demon king to be all-powerful, it knew he would never be able to defeat our hero. Our hero had enough power to defeat the demon king and then some more."

But he still died.

"Listen well, Ralph! The true nature of the thing that supports you!"

A sharp change occurred in Damian's voice as he spoke authoritatively. He stood up from his chair and slowly walked toward me as a wave of fear washed over my back and climbed up my spine, my hand holding the knife trembling.

"The system will pull you out of the pits of desperation, it will give you powers that you can't even imagine to make you the perfect host, the strongest host."

I didn't even realize when his eyes had pulled up in front of my own. Damian grabbed the knife by its blade and slowly pulled it away from my neck.

"And then, it will kill you."