"HAAH!" Eliot woke up for the second time, panting, his shirt soaked with sweat.
[Welcome back… Eliot.]
At first, he was startled, but then the memory of the last terrifying encounter rushed back, and he remembered.
"System?" he asked.
[...]
"...What exactly happened last time?"
[You lost consciousness and were on the verge of death. I intervened to save your life when the situation became dire.]
"What exactly did you do?" he pressed.
[I traded your Starter Package for Genetic Points to aid in neutralizing the poisoning.]
"Starter Package?" he frowned, already having an idea of what it was.
[Yes. A reward given by the system for completing your first mission,]
"So, you traded it to save me?" he asked.
[I had no other options,]
"I… see," he finally said, letting out a heavy gasp, then ran a hand through his hair.
Slowly but surely, the world came into focus. However, just as the first time he woke up, something was still fundamentally wrong.
"Why is the sky grey, System? And where is the sun?" he asked.
[The mechanics of this world are still unknown to me. I cannot give you a credible reason for this abnormality, but I suggest you accept it as it is. It is not reality, after all.]
"You're right," he conceded, then stood up.
The forest was clearly visible, yet it was monochromatic, like an old photograph taken in the 1980s.
He looked at his hand. "I have color… but this world doesn't," he mused. He couldn't see a reason why the creator would exclude such a thing. Though not strictly essential, color gave life to everything. Conjured or not, color was important. This lack of color couldn't be meaningless; it was done with a purpose—a purpose he was determined to uncover, perhaps the key to escaping this Mystic World.
"Sys— Hmm, what is your name?" he asked, deciding to address her more personally.
[I have no name.]
"Is that right?" he asked.
[Yes. You are free to call me whatever you want.]
"Fine then. I will call you Nadia."
[Understood.]
"So, Nadia, what happened to the monster from last night?" he asked, taking a careful look around his environment.
The place was colorless, so there wasn't much detail to note. However, from what he could see, an intense beatdown had taken place right on the ground where he was standing. He could see numerous trees snapped cleanly in half, and he couldn't miss the huge, round, black mark where he had been lying.
A burn mark, maybe?
[It was taken care of.] was the only response he received.
"Taken care of?" he frowned, stooping to touch the mark. His finger came away with a dark smudge. "What exactly did you do?" he asked once more.
[It was taken care of.]
"You said that before," he countered.
[It is the only response I can give you. There are things you still do not have enough permission to know.]
"Fine, tell me what I can know," he walked toward a tree trunk and sat down, waiting for his answer.
[For now, the only privileges you have are: Status, Trade by Barter System, and Genetic Altering.]
"Explain," he ordered.
[Understood.]
[Status: This contains your information, from name and level, down to statistics like Stamina, Strength, Agility, and more. It also contains the User's Affinities, Bloodline (if any), and other relevant data.]
[Trade by Barter System: This is a trading mechanism where the User can exchange something of value for something they want in return. For example, last night I traded your eyesight in the left eye for the ability to negate poison, though it was done temporarily and was reversed shortly after the monster had been taken care of. However, it costs quite a lot of points to process each transaction, even the reversal process.]
[Genetic Altering: This is a system by which you can slowly level up and grow stronger by altering your stats with what are called GENETIC POINTS (GP). GP can be acquired from missions, achievements, and exchanges, just as was done with your Starter Package.]
[Missions: These are entirely based on the System Matrix Algorithm in respect to the strings of fate, and both rewards and penalties are random.]
With that explanation done, Eliot took a moment of silence to digest everything before speaking once more.
"How much GP do I have left?" he asked.
[TOTAL GP: 3.]
"Great. So I'm out of that, too," he muttered.
[It was required for the exchange. Also, I would advise you to take extreme caution this time on how you dive into danger. I am out of options to save you with the current lack of GP.]
"...Sigh," he massaged his forehead.
"This is going to be an extremely long ride," he said, then looked up once more at the grey sky.
"Show me the Status, Nadia," he commanded, and in response:
[Understood.]
However, what followed only made him frown.
"Sh*t."