After the unexpected news, I immediately packed my clothes, the money I had saved, and, of course, my diary. I cleared my mind of intrusive thoughts and tried to focus on how I should begin my new school life.
In my previous life, building a good social environment wasn't that difficult. But here, because of the stark differences in wealth, everything feels upside-down.
A quote suddenly echoed in my mind, one from one of my favorite novels:
"Silence is one of the great arts of conversation."
Looking back now, it would probably be a smart move to weave strings behind the scenes—connections among people—to successfully carry out my intentions. But what exactly are my intentions?
I'm in a world overflowing with unsolved mysteries. The path I want to take is not one I can walk alone. I need to build an association—or something of that sort—with strict principles, a stable income, trustworthy subordinates, and a deep influence on the world.
It's not a perfect plan. But what else should I do?
Getting married to a beautiful girl and dying after raising two children?That's not the answer I'm looking for.
I despise those kinds of normal endings. I've always wanted to escape society—but every time I tried, I crashed into a wall. This time will be different. I have to take this chance and move forward.
It was already late in the afternoon. The last thing I did was eat dinner and eventually drift off to sleep.
SYSTEM ACQUIRED
I awoke to a loud sound ringing in my ears. As I looked up, a glowing blue screen hovered in front of my eyes.
It displayed a message:
"Do you want to start the level evaluation?"
Sure, why not, I thought.
The moment I formed that thought, a new window appeared with a list of attributes:
Agility: 10
Strength: 5
Mana: 20
Charisma: ???
Vigor: 5
Combat: 0
Perception: 10
So this is the so-called System. It really does look like a copy-and-paste version from an old video game. Still… how do I level up these stats?
I guess I'll find out tomorrow or maybe after the school enrollment.
Another message popped up:
"Your level evaluation was successful.Click on OK to explore the other areas that this System includes."
Interesting. I now had access to three icons: a shop symbol, a backpack symbol, and a fist symbol.
I clicked on the first icon—the one that looked like a scroll. It showed me my skills.
It's kind of funny... I don't have any.
The second symbol, the shop, led to a window filled with magical items—things like weapons and enchanted tools. All of them were priced in a currency called EXP.
Fun fact—I don't have any of that either.
The last symbol opened what seemed to be my inventory. Unsurprisingly, it was completely empty.
After exploring the System, I decided to get some more sleep.
The sun was already starting to rise.