Ch 6. Welcome to the System

"Congratulations hero, level two already! And to think, here I was getting concerned about your lack of motivation. It may have taken you a while to start, but seeing you now I'm very impressed with your newfound diligence."

It happened again, the light and the voice. And again, nobody seemed to notice but me. The old-sounding voice seemed almost like it was speaking to me. 

"Hello hero, really glad that you've decided to start hunting monsters."

Now this was strange. He's definitely speaking to me. 

*snort* "Of course I'm speaking to you, who else would I be speaking to if not you?"

I can think of some options. I thought to myself, while glancing over at Nate and the others. Catching enough to see one of the archers, Kalm I think his name was, struggling to death with a slime while the others cheered him on.

"Bah. You think I would lower myself to speaking with empty vessels like those? Don't take me for a fool."

An odd choice of words... not to mention, he really is reading my thoughts, isn't he? I quickly became more guarded after coming belatedly to this realization. 

"Enough with the drama. You should know about me already? I'm the system... " 

The voice seemed somewhat taken aback at the thought that I didn't know who he was. I didn't know what to say so I just waited while an awkwardly long silence passed between us. 

*Ahem* The voice cleared his throat loudly, which I thought somewhat odd considering the medium of communication. 

"Truly, do you not know who I am?" 

The voice asked, sounding somewhat curious before devolving into frustrated mutterings. 

"But... how can this be? You should have gotten the explanation from the Goddess... right? Can you recall the time when you were summoned?"

"Summoning? Goddess? I have no idea who you are or what you're talking about."

"Oh, dear. This is worse than I imagined... I've only heard stories of this happening before, but to think it actually happened to me. Just my rotten luck."

"I don't get what you're saying, at all, can I get an explanation?" Keaton thought, getting the sense he was being insulted. He wasn't sure if the voice could read his emotions as well, but he was starting to get quite annoyed. 

"Hero, I do have some good news for you. I believe I'm beginning to understand the situation now and I suppose an explanation is in order. Make the best of bad circumstance, am I right? --- Now where was I... yes,

*Ahem*

You don't remember about being summoned. You've been in a terrible accident.  You've lost all or most of your memories. --Does that sound about right?"

No. No it does not. My memories are perfectly intact, I've just gained a few along the way. Keaton knew, but tried to remain as impassive and unthinking as possible, with some difficulty.

"Since that's the case. We have some catching up to do. Let's start with the basics."

"You've been summoned here. We summoned you. Well, not me exactly, but I work for the lady who summoned you. She's a Goddess. I'm the system, you can just call me System. I've been assigned here to work for you and assist you as I am able... and after all you're supposed to be working for us as well, so in a sense we're something like co-workers."

"And so to begin with, let me explain why we're here..."

'System', or so he called himself, quickly dove into some very strange topics. From the familiarity I felt at his words, it seems like this is something more related to my other self. Although it worried me this might act as a catalyst for my other half, this was still very beneficial information for me to have. 

...if things continue on our presence here may be eradicated entirely in the next few thousand years... " 

Wait what? Who is getting eradicated and why? Trying to process what was happening without letting thoughts slip to inner-monologue proved to be exceedingly difficult and I found myself zoning out for most of what he had just said. 

"Our followers. Well... the Goddess' followers really. We have been trying to establish a hold here for a very long time but most of our influence is concentrated in the beast kingdoms. We invested on them big, but the human kingdoms seem to be a bit more aggressive than we were first expecting and they've been wiping out our followers in droves. But really, the biggest threat here has always been the monsters. Our intelligence capability is not omniscient, we only know as much as our followers can find out... and so far we have very little idea what's out there. Speaking of it, do you know how long I've been trying to get in contact with you? We're gonna need you to put in some extra work." 

Hearing this guy go on really seemed to piss me off. You seem to have a lot of expectations of me. All I hear is you asking for a favors but I'm not running a charity here. 

"Charity?! Are you mad? --Don't you know how good you have it? You have me already and you dare asking for more!"

I want my part. 

"Hmph. The nerve. You'll get exactly as much as you earn, and no more. Go check your status out further and you'll know what I mean. I'm running out of time, so I'll have to make this short. You need to kill things and level up. I use their energy to power myself as well as empowering you, your level is a reflection of that. You'll find these levels to be rewarding enough. Level up again, and I'll speak with you."

By the time I finished with the the conversation it was practically my turn fighting the slimes again. We continued this well into the day, to the point that our bags practically overflowed with cores. By this time only a few dozen slimes remained, hiding away in the deeper parts of the pond before Nate decided to call it a day. I was very impressed by his generosity, giving us instruction the whole time and not taking any spoils for himself. 

Including me, the group was all pretty excited about returning, the items we had were truly a rare prize by our standards. Worth more than a months salary by any other trade. Between the other new guilders and I, we came to an agreement about continuing our relationship and forming a party. After a good rest of course, we decided three days off would do us well and allow us to spend our newly gotten gains. 

But I had another reason to be excited. 

The levels and the man who introduced himself as 'the system', I had high hopes for the rewards he promised.