Chapter 2 I Accidentally Found a System?

Lief began to follow the river, unsure of what he was supposed to do. Although his own form terrified him, he felt that he could ignore it as long as he didn't see his reflection, so he kept his gaze away from the water.

Recalling the golden light that surrounded him and his friends, he wondered if he had been summoned to this world by some sort of magic, like in the anime and webnovels Asher used to tell him about.

As he continued walking, Lief noticed something rather interesting. No matter how hard he stepped, there was no noise.

Whenever his skeletal tail hit a rock or tree trunk, there was a thud, but his footsteps were completely silent. He also didn't feel hungry, though he did feel a bit thirsty. He wondered if it was because of his new form.

Suddenly, a sparkle of light caught his attention. Turning, he noticed a blood red gem embedded in the base of a trunk of a withered tree. He crouched down to examine the jewel, tapping it with one claw-like finger.

Just as his finger made contact with it, the gem dissolved into a red light and seemed to be absorbed into his arm, leaving a crimson pattern on his skin.

[System Online...]

[System binding in progress...]

[System successfully bound...]

Three translucent floating blue screens appeared in front of his eyes in quick succession, with a low voice reading aloud the contents. "System? What is this?"

[System type determined based on host attributes...]

[System type: Dryad]

[Congratulations, you are now the host of a {Dryad/Forest Spirit} type system.]

[Please do your best to become a great Forest Guardian.]

"Aren't dryads those pretty tree people? Why do I look like something out of a horror movie? There must have been some sort of mistake. No way is this form supposed to be a dryad, I look like a literal wendigo!"

Lief stared at the notifications in disbelief. The system gave no response. This was beginning to feel more and more like the anime Asher used to tell him about, the one where the protagonist got stuck with an unhelpful system that often dug pits for him.

"Uh… open the system window?"

"Open sesame?"

"Show system window?"

"Status?"

He tried a variety of phrases until finally one worked and a system window appeared.

[System Level: 1]

[EXP: 0/200]

[Forest Size: 0]

[Vitality: 10]

[Absorption Speed: 1]

[Skills: Vitality Drain 1, Vitality Transfer 1]

"What is the vitality and absorption speed for?" Lief asked aloud. Normally, the systems gave stats like strength and intelligence. Instead, his system had only two stats that he wasn't familiar with. They weren't normally stats in any rpg games he had played.

[Vitality refers to both life force and health. Low vitality would mean a lower lifespan and higher chance of bad health. Vitality can be used to heal injured beings or the host by transferring vitality from one being to another, or it can be used to increase lifespan by draining vitality from others.]

[Absorption speed refers to how fast the host can drain or transfer vitality to and from beings.]

The system's voice sounded in his ears to helpfully explain.

"So, you are saying I can drain life from other things?"

[Yes.]

"And you're sure that you're a dryad system?"

[Yes.]

Lief didn't know what to say to the system's one word answer. He felt the abilities made him less like a forest guardian and more a reaper of death. "Hmmm, Mister System, do you have a name I can call you?"

[Nope.]

The voice became even lower and was almost a growl. Lief inwardly laughed.

"Do you want me to give you a name?"

There was a long period of silence before the system responded with a quiet 'yes'.

He thought for a second. Normally, if he were to be naming a pet, he would probably give a name based on the appearances. But the system was just a bunch of notification screens that looked like holograms from out of a sci-fi movie, unless…

"System, do you have a physical form? Or at least a visible form?"

A tiger appeared in front of Lief in answer, its frost blue eyes narrowed as it stared at him. The tiger's fur was a dull shade of dark green with pale brown stripes and its front shoulders almost reached his chest.

He didn't know how tall his monstrous form was so he didn't know how big the tiger was exactly, but it seemed quite large.

Lief jumped back, surprised by the sudden appearance. If he had not had a tail to balance himself, he would surely have stumbled and fallen backwards.

His skeletal tail lashed the ground behind him, digging deep gouges into the earth. "Jeez, warn a guy next time you do that. I nearly had a heart attack!"

The large feline tilted its head to one side, looking rather confused.

[You do not have a heart, and thus could not possibly have an attack upon it.]

The tiger spoke in the same voice as the system, confirming that it was indeed the system's avatar.

"It's a figure of speech!"

It took him a second for the meaning of the system's words to sink in.

"Wait… I don't have a heart?"

Lief held up one hand to his chest. Then he held his other hand up to his neck, hoping to check for a pulse.

He found only the cold emptiness of space.

"Ok, lemme just set that aside for a moment. Anyways, you wanted a name, right? How bout… Silvester?"

The giant tiger nodded, its tail waving back and forth.

Once that matter was dealt with, Lief decided to deal with the matters of the heart, literally. Strangely enough, he didn't feel too panicked about not having a heart.

In fact, he didn't even feel scared about being in his new body anymore. He wondered if it was a side effect of the system, or it had something to do with whatever magic summoned him to this world and put him in a monstrous form.

"Anyways, Silvester, how do I get vitality?"

The tiger padded over to one of the withered trees, knocking against the blackened bark with his tail. [Just touch a living thing. As long as it still has vitality, you will be able to drain it.]

Lief turned towards the tree nearest to him, planting his palm against the bark. A new notification appeared above his hand.

[Vitality: 7/100]

"So this is how much vitality is left in the tree? Is it possible to restore the tree?"

Silvester nodded once as he sat down beside Lief, his tail curling around his paws.

[Of course. You can transfer vitality from the other trees to one in order to restore it to full health.]