It was raining, and the rain continued to tap against the windowpane of a small room.
Looking inside the room, the lights were dim.
There was even a book that was opened on a table, and the pages slowly flipped on their own, thanks to a fan blowing from nearby.
Meanwhile, a young man could be seen sitting in his wheelchair with a fleece blanket over his lap.
He was twenty-four years old, but he looked thinner than most young men his age.
In fact, he looked frail as well, and his blue eyes were half-closed as he stared out of the window.
Rick had been living like this for years, so he was pretty much used to it by now.
But right now, Rick couldn't help but recall how everything in his life had suddenly turned upside down.
A few years ago, when Rick was fourteen years old, he lost his parents to a car accident, and his grandparents took the liberty of raising him as their own.
But as time passed, they noticed that Rick would always get sick.
At first, they thought it was because of how his parents had suddenly left him, but when they witnessed how serious his sickness had become, Rick's grandparents had to change hospitals to find out the root cause of his continuous illnesses.
And it was then they discovered he had somehow contracted an autoimmune disease.
The disease was rare, but it also meant that he would be unable to carry out simple tasks just like any other boy his age.
In other words, it robbed him of his strength, but it didn't stop his grandparents from loving and supporting him in any way they could.
Of course, Rick was grateful to have such wonderful grandparents.
But sadly for him, Rick lost both of his grandparents at the age of eighteen, and he had been alone ever since.
Moreover, due to his degenerative condition, Rick was officially registered as disabled, and since he was now legally an adult but not fit for full-time work, the government provided a monthly disability stipend, which luckily covered his rent for a small apartment in a low-income neighbourhood.
It also covered his prepaid food allowances and basic hospital visits as well.
Now, a nurse would visit him once a week, and a social worker would visit him once a month, just to check up on him.
Both were really professional about their jobs and would only spend a few minutes or hours with him before leaving.
Of course, Rick never complained about it, so he tried to make the most of what his body could handle.
Also, he never allowed his illness to discourage him from cooking what he could and even sewing his own clothes as well.
He tried his best to learn whatever he could from the internet or his television when he sat to watch anything of use to him.
But when his legs began to hurt too much for him to move around his room, Rick developed an interest in reading hardcover books and online novels.
His favourite novels were always about how the protagonist would suddenly be reincarnated into a fantasy world, where they would then try to live a peaceful and relaxing life while learning the customs and cultures of their new world.
In other words, he loved slice-of-life novels.
He really enjoyed them, and they'd been his highlight for quite some time now.
'Oh, that reminds me,' Rick suddenly recalled something as he glanced over at his phone on a nearby desk.
'I haven't completed the vampire novel yet.'
It was a slice-of-life vampire novel where the protagonist had reincarnated from earth to live in a fantasy world where phones and internet were used just like in his previous world.
Wasn't that cool just hearing about it?
'Of course, it is.' Rick uttered in his thoughts.
'I just wish the author would try his best to resume serialising the novel because I really want to see how it ends.'
'Oh well, I wonder where I stopped in the novel.'
'Oh, I think it's where the protagonist is finally about to visit the elf village for the first time.'
'Yeah, that's right.'
'I wonder what would happen when he finally gets there.'
'I hope he becomes close with the elf queen and maybe woo her into becoming one of his wives.'
'It would be nice and I can't wait to see it happen.'
'Oh please, author. Just do this for me.'
'I don't care how long it takes for him to have an elf wife, just let my boy get at least one elf waifu in his harem.'
'The Council Of Men will definitely approve.' Rick clenched his fists as he silently prayed in his mind.
Then he slowly spun his wheelchair to get himself a cup of tea to drink before he began reading his favourite novel.
Currently, Rick had no friends or family, so he spent most of his time at home, simply reading his books that had brought nothing but smiles to his face over these past few months.
And currently, he was just grateful for being alive, instead of being on a sickbed.
Looking out of the window, Rick noticed how the rain had stopped but the sky had turned grey and the wind had even picked up as well.
"Oh, the rain will be starting again very soon..... I think." He muttered to himself as he took a sip of his tea.
"Good thing I'm not outside right now."
"Anyways, I have to be fast with reading the vampire novel."
"I still have a cooking show I do not want to miss."
Rick reminded himself as he gently began to drink his tea, but when he did, he noticed his hands shaking violently while holding his mug.
But still, he drank the tea with a bittersweet smile on his face, regardless of how much his hands were shaking.
'I guess it's getting hard for me to even hold a cup now.' Rick uttered sadly in his thoughts.
The doctor had informed him a few days ago that his time was near, so he understood why it was getting harder for him to even hold a mug.
His breathing had even become rougher than before since he woke up this morning, and Rick had been wondering if his time was nearer than he thought.
'Maybe, today is when.....'
'No, No. Let's not think about that right now.' Rick swiftly pulled his thoughts away from that.
He simply sipped his tea again, but as he did, not only was he finding it hard to breathe by the minute, his eyes also seemed to be growing heavier by the second as well.
'Maybe, I should just get a quick nap and then continue the novel later.' He suggested and decided to sleep while still sitting on his wheelchair.
And so, with a deep sigh, Rick closed his eyes to sleep.
But the cup he was holding slowly slipped from his hands and rolled across the floor.
His breathing had stopped and just like that, the young man had taken his last breath.
The fan continued to blow while the pages of the open book on the desk continued to flip slowly, one after another.
The grey sky outside the window darkened just a little more as the first drops of the returning rain began to tap quietly against the glass again.
Sadly no one was with him when he had taken his last breath.
The room simply stayed as it was while Rick had died.
However, to Rick's surprise, he opened his eyes again, but this time, he wasn't in his little apartment.
Instead, he was in the interior of a cave with a couple of female elves dressed in leaf loincloths, but each of them had a look of worry, fear and concern while staring at him.
Rick slowly lifted his head up, hoping to understand why a certain female elf among them was crying while looking at him, but before he could fully comprehend what was going on, a transparent blue screen magically appeared in front of him with a string of words displayed on the screen.
[Congratulations, Host. You've successfully arrived at the Primitive Wood Elf Tribe Of The Wood Clan.]
[The Tribal Elf System is currently at your service.]