Chapter 2

" W-what's happening....? Who said that? "

He held his head as he tried to endure the pain in his mind. He felt like he would faint the moment he loses focus and so he endured the pain.

[ Initializing.... ]

[ Update complete! The " Phantom System " has been successfully installed. ]

[ Beginning world assimilation, Random world selection... ]

Julius no longer paid attention to anything else outside the world, he only listened carefully to the monotonous voice inside his head. He could no longer bear to think.

He could only focus and memorize what the voice inside his head was saying. He had no idea what was happening to him nor where the pain in his head was coming from, but his insticts told him that he had to pay attention to the voice inside his head.

[ Ping! Ping! World [ AXI-08] has been chosen, beginning transmigration... ]

His eyes instinctively twitched as he heard the last word.

' Transmigration?! What do you me- '

All of the sudden, darkness filled Julius' vision as he lost his consciousness.

-

In a dark alley way, the foul stench of garbage and other rotting trashes completely filled the entire area. Amongst the shadows, a small figure moved and began to tremble.

It was a child. Seemingly on the age of 6-7, he had an extremely pale complexion and a malnourished body.

His cheeks were thinned while his hair was long and unkept. As his body stopped trembling, he suddenly gasped for air. The child instantly stood up and began to look at his surroundings.

He scanned the entire area and his initial look of bewilderment turned into utter confusion.

" W-whe... "

The young child's voice were extremely raspy, indicating that he had been thirsty for quite some time. He stopped speaking as soon as he felt pain from his throat.

He put his hand to his throat as if to feel it but then, he looked at his hand in surprise. He then began to touch his entire body and an extreme sense unfamiliarity overwhelmed him.

' My arms are thin and short, my body is extremely malnourished. '

He then noticed his long hair that measured to his waist.

' This isn't my body! '

Suddenly, an intense pain came from his stomache. As if his stomache was beginning to eat itself.

' H-hungry.... '

He then began to visciously scan his surroundings. His eyes then stopped at one of the pile of garbage in one spot, there was slight movement making a shuffling noise.

" Squeak! Squeak! "

He immediately moved and dove into the pile of garbage. After a bit of struggle, he rose out of the pile of garbage with something in both of his hands.

On his right hand was a large rodent half the size of a house cat while on his left hand was a similar sized rodent only to be sizing a little less than the former.

Both the rodent's necks were snapped and so they did not struggle whilst being in the hands of the child. He lied down and began to sink his mouth into the rodent's body.

Snap! Chomp! Gulp!

Those three sounds spontaneously resounded in the silent dark alley.

-

After some time, the boy finally took his last gulp and licked the stain of blood on his lips. With a clear mind, he stood back up to scan his surroundings once more.

' Where is this place? The slums? No, It seems to be the slums but not the slums that I know of. '

Suddenly, a ringing sound came from his mind followed by a message from the monotonous voice.

[ Ping! Ping! Host has successfully transmigrated to world " AXI-08 ". Beginning memory assimilation. ]

The young child grimaced as he didn't even bother to think about anything else since he could predict what would happen next.

Once more, pain assaulted his mind and immediately knocked him out. Is it because that he was in another body that he easily fainted this time or was it for another reason? The child did not know nor did he have time to think about it.

-

In Julius' mind, a cinema-like scene occured and it was a 1st person perspective portraying the memories of the little boy.

There wasn't much that could be noteworthy since his birth. He was a son of a prostitute and was abandoned in the streets. By the time he had awareness, he knew that the only way to live is to either steal or eat food from garbages.

Although he knew what to do, he could not accomplish it since he was just a little brat. He learned to speak through socializing with other slum children while making efforts of developing his stealing skills.

More often than not, he would fail to steal and be beat up for it. It had already happened to this child dozens of times and Julius wondered why he wasn't dead yet.

In the final scenes of the memory, the young child seem to be framed and was driven away by the other slum children who he once considered his friends.

He was then isolated and beat up once more by a random passerby who found his existence disgusting and decided to do the world justice and kill the child.

It seems that the life of this child had nothing but a series of unfortunate events. Julius only took a deep breath as the memories of the child ended. He felt somewhat empathetic to the child since his childhood was also similar to him.

[ Memory assimilation complete. The System had been successfully received by the host. Transmigration process has also been complete.

This is the final automated message from the system. Good luck, " Host: QUE:01AG "! ]

After carefully listening to the monotonous voice, he was then brought back to the reality as he woke up from the cold ground. As he stood up, he noticed something out of place.

In front of him was a grey transparent screen containing several words followed by ringing sound that's similar to notification sound in his previous world.

[ Congrarulations on host's successful transmigration! ]

[ Ping! Ping! The System had been successfully installed. Any questions regarding about the system can be asked through the System Information window.

To access the System Information window, simply say ' System Info ' and the System Information window will be opened. ]

[ Ping! Ping! Host can now access the Status window. In order to access the status window, simply say ' Stats' and the Status window will be opened. ]

[ Ping! Ping! Host is adviced to go through the tutorial before further interactions with the system.

Would you like to play the tutorial? Yes or No. ]

A lot of game-like messages appeared in front of Julius as he began to read through all of them. After doing so, he sat and rested his back in one of the cold walls as he took a deep breath.

Having calmed down, he slowly processed everything that had happened in his mind.

' First of all, it seems that I really have transmigrated. Exactly like one of those fantasy novels I used to read.

And the system? Talk about one more cliche plot after another. I'd seriously have to be retarded if I still don't accept my situation right now. I can tell that this isn't just some trippy shit at all.

Secondly, with the kid's memories, I could tell that this world was really a different one from my previous world. The civilization here is similar to the medieval era back in earth while there's also the existence of magic, swords, monsters, and the likes.

Although I still don't have much info about them since the boy's life revolved around stealing and surviving. Knowledge was a luxury that only commoners and above enjoys.

I guess I'm still somewhat lucky since I didn't transmigrate into a slave. '

Somewhere in the boy's memories, he and his group found a group of slaves that were being brutally dragged away by the slave trader.

They once saw someone try to escape only to struggle by the cursed tattoo on his body. His body trembled as his veins started to enlarge. Soon, blood came dripping through his eyes and nose before finally dying.

He could still remember the fright the child had as he saw the slave trader look at the dead slave in disgust. So even though the child knew he was unfortunate, he was still quite more fortunate than others.

Julius realized this too and the fact that he was once a child of the slums only brought him more nostalgia.

-

After fixing his thoughts for quite sometime, he finally accepted and adjusted to his new reality. He focused once more to the game-like messages in front of him.

' How do I select the yes option? Do I tap it or... '

He tried to tap it but only to have his finger go through the screen.

' Or do I choose it with my mind by saying something like, Yes? '

The text suddenly changed and the window turned into something similar to a loading screen.

[ Initializing tutorial... ]

' Oh? So it works like this? '

After a minute or so, the screen finally changed and there it revealed a step by step procedure on how to operate the system.

[ This is the System Information screen. ]

[ Phantom System Lv. 1

Exp: 0/500

System Ability 1: Phantom Mode ( Unlock at System Lv. 5 )

- Host will be able to enter into a phantom state for 10 seconds. During those times, the Host is able to go through any matter and affect reality however the host's wish.

- After 10 seconds, the host will immediately materialize no matter where the host is. After materialization, the host will be paralyzed for 5 minutes before the host will be able to move again.

-Unlock the previous ability to view the next ability. ]

Another screen appeared beside the information screen and it contained the explanation about the system information window.

[ The System Information window is the most important and vital part of the System. It is the foundation of your future.

As the system grows in level, you unlock abilities of the granted system along with points that can upgrade the ability of your choice. You may receive 1 point every time the system levels up. ]

[ Moving on. ]

The window changed and the system information window disappeared. It was instantly replaced with another one.

[ This is the Status Window. ]

[ Name: Kayo

Age: 6

STR: E- -

INT: A-

AGI: E-

ENDU: E

MANA: E ]

[ The status windows contains the information regarding the host's body. The tiers are ranked from E to S with E being the lowest and S being the highest.

The host can improve his tier by physically enchancing his own body. Whether through physical training or biological modification. ]

After reading the whole entire tutorial page, it then changed once more.

[ This concludes the Tutorial. Does the Host have any questions? This system will answer them as long as it is within it's capabilities. ]

The child nodded slightly before sharply looking at the game-like screen in front of him. He was slightly disturbed as he thought back to his status screen.

' Kayo... so even that, they even know about that. '

Julius' real name was Kayo. It was what he was called back when he was still a runt in the slums. It was a name that even his master did not know since his master decided a new name for him directly after picking him up.

' I don't really know the standards of this world but It's quite evident that I'm weak.

Intelligence A-? Seems that that's my tier in my previous life, then I guess my status would somewhere be somewhere between B- to C+.

As for the 1st-rates, I can only assume that their tiers are A and above. '

Suddenly, Julius' eyes trembled.

' 1st-rate? '

As he repeated these words in his thoughts, his heart suddenly began to beat faster. His eyes slowly started to tremble.

' Per-perhaps in this life I can... no- I can't be sure. '

He managed to calm down his fast beating heart as he decided to rationalize himself. However, the possibility of becoming a 1st-rate became extremely enticing to him.

His dull, lifeless eyes suddenly started to show signs of light after 20 years of darkness and emptiness.