0: The Die

Furan Shi was a friendless creature who didn't want to call himself a human. But he is very human, no shit. He's just being a petty emo who wants to scream at the world while wearing his fishnets and crying to random rock music. Problem is, he's Asian, and not many people in his countryside village appreciates his emo taste.

He wasn't born as a princess, but he very much likes to act like one most of the time. Not the political type shit, but the type of princess capitalists sell to little girls every year. Said capitalists also sell things they don't fully support during pride month, which Furan inhales like his life depends on them.

So when he suddenly decided (not really) to depart from this world, nobody missed him. Maybe his mother, but that woman was a control freak. His father would probably be a control freak, too, if only he never left for another woman. Oh, wait. He is worse than that. See, his parents were second cousins, and it was fortunate enough that Furan was born a real cutie pie. Nevermind. It's currently irrelevant.

He's a cutie pie with no friends, that is. He doesn't think it's his fault for being too edgy. Not really.

Anyways, his ghost stood at the side, arms crossed, perhaps grumbling about how his body was positioned in the casket. For his last wish, he wanted to be buried with his favorite fishnets and red eyeliner.

Because black is too overrated.

He was grumbling about how bland his funeral clothes were thanks to his mother's choice to ignore his bucket list in his bedside drawer — or maybe his mother hadn't seen it yet — and he was also grumbling about how his hands were lying straight on each of his sides when he wanted to look like a vampire with them crossed against his chest. His face wasn't even caked up with the usual dark colors he put around it, making him look like a decent person for once. Which… ugh, plain. Now his funeral is ruined.

Thanks a lot, mama.

As he glared at his casket, hoping he could burn it down and get cremated instead, more people arrived to give their condolences. His hot homeroom teacher, the perverted PE teacher who's suspiciously sweating buckets, the hot homeroom teacher's son (who looked like he'd rather be somewhere than here), and some of his classmates.

They stayed for a while and chatted with his mother, his classmates at the side offering their hair clips to where his cold body laid unmoving.

Miss Shi seemed just lost.

His younger sister that always looked up to him seemed lost.

Even his orange tabby, for once, looked lost at the loss of its owner.

This is too depressing, Furan thought, and he felt as though he might just commit another die as a ghost.

With everyone occupied, no one took notice when a black avian creature flew right in. Unwelcome and audacious, it perched right on top of the memory easel where Furan was.

It tilted its head and craned its neck down, seemingly staring at nothing in particular. Said nothing in particular cleared his throat, displeased at the crow on his picture easel. What if this bird shits and it lands right on Furan's face???! Or what if… what if it flails about and knocks his picture over?

So, Furan, even though knowing his efforts won't do anything, still swatted a hand in the bird's direction. Surprisingly the bird was flung away with a terrible "SQUAWK!"

Heh. Furan smirked, satisfied nonetheless at his own rude, yet self-justified, behavior.

If the bird wasn't so desperate, it wouldn't really come to Furan. On top of his rude display just now, he's also rude, not to mention rude. Plus, Furan is still an unstable candidate because of his tender age!

But beggars can't be choosers, and this bird was the snottiest among the new systems. Plus, this kid is the best it could get from the potential hosts given to them! If this corvid system agent would be paired with the only host that didn't die from getting hit by a car in this fresh batch, it would definitely draw more attention! Imagine having a symbol of murder as your avatar, and then your host gets to be someone who was literally murdered in a gruesome way..!

So it ruffled its feathers and stood back up. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, after all. But what doesn't make you stronger makes you more of a bitch.

And if Raum can't have the former, then he'd happily be the latter. With a revitalized ego, it hopped closer to the memory easel again and this time didn't forget to dilate its round, dumb-looking red eyes right towards Furan. No, not the one in the casket, but the one standing right beside it.

"Hello, bitch." Truth be told, it had meant to say "child", but somehow accidentally swapped the dialogue with its thoughts. Not that it'd correct itself. No way.

Furan blinked. And then he blinked again. "Did… did you just call me a—"

"No," the crow cleanly dismissed. "Ah, before you call me anything, my name is Raum."

Silence enveloped the two of them. Raum thought Furan was still processing his death, so it took the initiative to lead the conversation, occasionally doing the bird thing where they somewhat pick or scratch inbetween their feathers with their beaks.

"Are you familiar with systems?" -it received a hesitant nod from the dumbfounded boy. Good enough.

"Then I'll introduce myself again," it added coolly, flapping its wings once in a dignified manner. Even its voice was dignified and dark as its feathers, no matter how polite it may seem. "I am Raum, your system. Now, I am new, but I guarantee I'll do my best to accommodate you."

Simple as that. The black bird couldn't help but gloat the more Furan gawked at him. That smug attitude, however, was slapped rather easily out of his system with Furan's next words.

"Why me?"

The surrounding noises didn't matter anymore. Furan awkwardly averted his gaze to his casket, and then flitted it back to Raum when he noticed its beak parting slowly from the corner of his eyes.

"Wha… what do you mean, 'why you'?"

The two stared at each other awkwardly. Furan winced, bringing up a hand in a weird, awkward-ish manner and awkwardly scratched the back of his head. Awkward in full throttle.

"Well…" the boy started, bringing the same hand down to be fiddled by his other one. "I mean… I'm not interesting enough to transmigrate as different characters.. or something..?"

Oh.

…

Ohhh.

Ohhh nooo baby noooo :((

The crow could almost feel some figurative tears being shed from its own beady eyes, and crows don't even have tear ducts that should work emotionally. "Baby, I can assure you're a suitable enough candidate for this."

Raum couldn't really lie, so it stated what's the next nearest thing to comfort the poor human. True to its words, Furan should be a good host with enough experience in the field because of his potential. Systems somehow have a way of quantifying an individual's potential, but the methods they use are beyond human comprehension, which can make their results seem inconsistent or unpredictable sometimes. Also, Furan's soul was fresh to boot. Barely new in the reincarnation cycle. Not that it's Raum's preference. Definitely not.

Furan Shi's potential was a shining 85%. It was perhaps high due to Furan being young, and he wasn't yet stuck to a dreadful construct. And if not for his questionable search — and watch — history Raum would've been proud he found this kid, too. But as we've established, the bird had been desperate. That is, desperate to leave its nest and prove its worth as a competent enough system among its greenhorn peers.

Furan took the answer at face value since Raum didn't seem to have anything else to offer at the moment, and he was sure it could offer something worse.

"Sooo…" He decided to change the topic instead. "What kind of system are you? Err… what would I be doing?"

Finally, a familiar ground. Raum can breathe out a sigh of relief. "I have no specialty yet, being new, but it could also be translated to us being flexible, hehe. Is that too overwhelming for you?"

Furan shook his head. "I didn't know that was even a thing.. baby systems, I mean."

"Nuh uh," the system replied abruptly, not knowing whether to get offended or not. "If anyone's a baby, it's not me. It's you."

Furan decided not to argue with that. Even if Raum had said it was a new system, Furan still couldn't quite form a more solid impression of it. He was fairly sure it had called him a bitch first before a baby..

"Oh," Raum spoke up again, "before we leave.. I have a question."

"Do you want revenge on the one who killed you? Do you want to go back to the reincarnation cycle of your world after this?"

No, that's foul. That's two questions in one go. Nonetheless, having nothing left to say, the indecisive Furan tepidly shook his head. His gaze sauntered over to the casket at the side, to the hair clips sitting on top of the glass, to his thick-faced, panicky murderer who somehow found his confidence to attend and even sit among the mourners, and then to his family. "Can I… wait it out? I mean.. wait and see how things would go in my absence before I decide?"

Good answer. The crow solemnly nodded its small feathery head.

Its wingspan was almost twice as long as its body, and when it flew up it created a small draft around it that blew out some candles, which, by extension, scared the nearby mourners. "Grab on," it instructed. "We're going. I'll give you a more fulfilling life."

Furan reluctantly grabbed onto its twig-sized leg. But when it started carrying him away with ease, he learned to trust it a little more and grab on to the other leg as well. His soul was light for Raum; too light, in fact, that the crow had to turn its head back at him from time to time to make sure he's still there. Furan watched his house, his neighborhood, his village, shrink far below his feet.

Goodbye.

—————————— (⁠ﾉ⁠◕⁠ヮ⁠◕⁠)⁠ﾉ⁠*⁠.⁠✧

They hadn't even reached the stratosphere yet when they were engulfed in a navy-ish, almost black, space. Soon, Furan can feel himself having weight again, his feet landing softly on invisible solid ground.

"Welcome home, I guess."

Furan quickly shuffled to the bed in the middle of the dark room, forgetting all decency and diving headfirst into the soft pillows. Raum took no offense; after all, it had spent its earned points for this, so its first host would only feel comfortable in their safe space.

A low-slung bed filled with plain white pillows and an empty desk. That should do it. Furan peered out from behind the pillow he's hugging, watching as Raum perched softly on another pillow.

"Now, I'll introduce everything to you again…"

Its words flow out of its moving beak, much similar to how humans talk, but with a deep, mechanical voice that still tells Furan it was somehow AI at some parts. Anyways, it looks dumb with those red, wide set eyes. Especially when it's looking at him like that.

"But why do you sound like an old man?" he interrupted right before the bird could explain. "I mean… not old old but… you know.. like an old gentleman, or a vampire.. if that makes sense.."

"But don't you like it, host?" the dumb-looking bird quickly responded. "I have access to your internet history. I know you prefer a voice that can sweep you off your feet."

"But you can't.." Furan's gaze slowly dragged down the small crow's body, almost in an offensive way, regardless if it's unintentional or not. "N-nevermind.. please continue."

At least this kid is polite.

"Now, there's an infinite realm of possibilities out there we call "worlds"; possible realities… you get the gist. And when we say possible — anything you can think of."

Raum was explaining things carefully as if it would to a child, drawling its words out and moving its beak and wings about for a more compelling narration. Well, in its eyes Furan is a child. If the boy would hear this, he'd probably protest, perhaps argue that dying three days before turning 18 meant he's already an adult.

"Now, to make each reality more decipherable for us, we frame "current" events there into a story. My job as a system is to guide you through these stories. As a host to a transmigration system, your job is to inhabit an assigned character in a story, live their life, perhaps fulfill their wishes, and then hop onto another."

"You call it experience, we call it data. And no data is bad data."

Throughout the explanation, Furan kept nodding his head like the child he is. And he'd really argue against that fact if he knew. Next to explain was Furan's skills, quantified for better understanding. Fortunately, Raum knew the boy was bad with numbers, so it tried its best to categorize the skills instead into levels, with level 1 as the lowest starting point.

Every skill imaginable was shown to Furan: dancing, cooking, flirting, comprehension, gag reflex, every humanly possible skill made it into the etcetera, all with numbers on their right side to indicate their level. There were also some that were still locked, but can be purchased later when he earned some points.

In the special category, he has two skill sets.

One, "Cuteness Overload!" which contains three unlocked special skills: Pouting [lvl 6], Blushing [lvl 4], and Natural Charm [Passive lvl 7].

Although he wasn't sure if pouting and blushing was really anything special, he just assumed maybe his pouting and blushing would be... more effective than normal..?

There was an explanation written in parentheses tailing after [Natural Charm (Passive) lvl 7]: Inevitably draws maternal instincts/perverse reactions from surrounding characters at a 21% intensity. May distract onlookers at a 14% chance. Furan Shi skillfully ignored this part.

Two, "Creature Encyclopedia" that also contains three unlocked special skills: Arrogance [Passive lvl 3], Empathy [lvl 1], and Sanctuary [lvl 1].

Not that Furan would remember any of these. Maybe he would, like how he remembers useless facts he randomly watched in the past, but at the wrong times. And thinking he would simply pick up what the skills could do when he experiences a story, he didn't feel the need to ask about them.

Wait, hold on.

"The Creature Encyclopedia is a weird skillset," he mused aloud, his eyes squinting with intrigue at the holographic window screen containing his skills. The crow nodded its beak, easily agreeing to the boy.

"I can tell you about Empathy, the skill that would enable you to mimic other skills your body can tolerate. And Sanctuary is basically just a fancier term for Taming. But about Arrogance… I dunno haha. Maybe you can just explore it as you go."

Aside from Arrogance, the rest were more than good. Furan felt better seeing his valuable skills and how there were already so many, even more so when further explained he can also borrow the skills of the bodies he'll be inhabiting, which could also allow him to obtain them in the end by purchasing them at a discount price. That last part was a bit bittersweet, but maybe he could negotiate in the future.

What else would the system world do? Make him "unlearn" the skill?

Below the skills list was a hidden pocket Furan only noticed right before he could scroll past it. After clicking the drop down button, the list expanded, showing more of his attributes apparently… based on his personality.

Personality: Mood-based.

Fixed Conditions:

>Increased vulnerability to older men over the age of 40. Activates during mood=low tide.

>Canceled debuffs during mood=high tide.

Mania Skills:

>The Monster (lvl 2) - temporarily allows the host to detach nociceptors in their body. Host can choose to numb whatever he can specify, but he's a bit dumb with human anatomy so.. One limb at a time. Numbing also renders specified body parts useless in the duration. Can only be activated after the condition [Bye-bye V-card~] is met.

>Fight or FIGHT (lvl 3) - pumps more fear into the host when backed into a corner, temporarily ramping up passive skill [Arrogance] by five levels. Twice as effective against older men over the age of 40—

"How foul of Raum to add those mania skills." Furan Shi, interrupting his reading, faced the crow with a deadpanned stare.

"And lemme guess… the [Fight or FIGHT] skill makes the left side of their neck automatically their weak spot no matter the circumstance?"

He was… correct. Although he felt goosebumps taking over his skin at the creepily accurate attribute descriptions, not knowing why exactly the chills were there or how to deal with it, Furan simply let it take over awhile and shuddered. Somehow the chills were passed on to the innocent-looking corvid.

"I only quantify what I find about my host," Raum reluctantly defended, although it wasn't sure why defending felt even necessary. "I-I'd like to say I am accurate as fuck as much as I feel bad."

Thankfully, Furan merely shrugged it off. "Meh, what's a life without some juicy trauma? Oh right — I didn't experience the monster part because I was already asphyxiated by then..~!" Followed promptly by his snickering.

Raum didn't know how to respond to that, either. Mania skills were unique to the host, as these were not only based on their personality, but their core experiences as well. At first the system agent thought Furan's murder would make for a cool reference for the host's mania skills, add that to the fact that he didn't really have much significant events in his life Raum can work with, but considering his personality, Raum would just have to land on his high tide, else it'd be Thanksgiving turkey to the system agent, only.. Thanksgiving crow.

Furan Shi didn't seem really offended and in fact thought it cool. Besides, his feelings from when he was still alive and dying were somehow being blocked by something inside him.

"But what if I transmigrate into a character that's aged 40?" As the boy continued speaking in the absence of the corvid's not-really-needed response, he subconsciously swiped his tongue across his bottom lip.

"Do I scare myself? Do I… still incite perverse feelings from people around me..?"

"Depends if the world would add an age debuff to that passive," Raum supplied, sounding unsure itself.

With the air around them a little tense (one-sided), the bird continued on, marching past the personality-based attributes and onto a new topic that's lighter.

"Anyways… host has two ways to earn B points for skill upgrading. Earn it through finishing a story, or just buy it from the system store. You can buy there using C points, which you will also gain after completing a story."

Furan nodded again. This, at least, he can understand. B points for skills, C for stuff…

The crow perked up again as it remembered something. "Right..! As a new host, we decided to give you a welcome gift! Also..! Because I, your great system, had been an outstanding trainee, we both receive another gift. And! Because you synchronized with me, a new system, you also receive a bonus C point multiplier."

Furan's ears were ringing. Even though he hasn't tasted how it feels to spend the points yet, he felt his heart swelling every time a new reward was brought up. Ah, it's like having the perks of being a new player in a game he pre-registered in.

After opening these gifts, he had amassed 51 B and 2000 C points. The corners of his lips were trembling already from having to restrain a big, silly grin from breaking out and ruining his cute face. Raum didn't have the heart to tell him the more essential items in the store were… pricey, so it exploited the fact that it was an outstanding newbie system during its training course to almost empty its own wallet just to gift Furan Shi another 2000 C.

"The bonus multiplier would apply to the first two worlds you hop into," Raum chirped. "But you need to activate it first before entering."

It wasn't only at numbers Furan sucks at, but he was also an indecisive little… player. Raum would love to recommend which skill to upgrade, but chose instead to just wait for Furan to get the hang of each skill first. "You can just upgrade them inside the world, no problem."

Raum felt like it was suddenly babysitting. The system itself was new to this job, but as long as they're not breaking any rules, maybe it could pamper its host a bit more. Plus it still feels guilty about calling Furan a "female dog" in their first meeting, and referencing a traumatic event for the mania skills. Not like Raum really had a choice about the latter one.

Later, the bed in the middle was moved to the corner where Furan preferred it to be. "For extra space," he had said. The desk was moved by the footboard, and for 30 C the low slung bed gained a silk canopy that floated above it. Another 100 C and the middle of the room was occupied by a large, rectangular fluffy rug.

The more Furan Shi acted like how a proper teenager would, somehow, the more Raum felt like more than just a bird. Or a system agent. Or whatever may apply to the crow. As though it suddenly had a new responsibility other than assisting a host.

"Can I just stay here forever?" the boy suddenly asked. After browsing the system store for hours and not even buying anything, Furan was nestled among the plush pillows on the bed, barely able to tear his eyes away from the products he could scroll through over and over without end.

The crow was perched atop the thin frame of the floating screen where the menu interface of the system was displayed, hovering right before its equally idle host. "If you want to stagnate and possibly erode from prolonged inactivity, then be my guest." Raum felt as though it was entitled enough to scold its charge now. No — its baby. The system agent was definitely guilty for calling Furan a 'bitch', but not a 'brat'.

A hint of disappointment flickered across Furan's face, a mildly incredulous look at Raum, but was quickly replaced by a resigned expression. He figured as much, but it was still… somewhat anticlimactic to hear.

"Then.. when you said you're a system without.. I don't know, a "specialty" or something.." Furan paused, rolling over so he was lying flat on his back, the pillows above him toppling over in the process. Cinnamon eyes stared up at the floating canopy overhead, and then he sighed, "...I can become anything in a.. erm.. "story"? Protag, villain, bootlicker, Mary Sue.. a hot stud.. or a horse..?"

"A horse, right." If Raum had a clickable tongue, it would have clicked it at least once in thought. "All of those are.. indeed plausible. What's important is how much data you can collect from a story."

They both gazed back upon the idle screen, waiting for Furan to just get started with the worldhopping.

"But can I at least choose where I go?" he added thoughtfully. Well, half thoughtfully. The other half was already thinking about becoming another character's sugar baby so he'd have an easy life.

"That's possible," Raum supplied, "given there's literally an infinite number of possible realities, and the fact that we're both beginners."

"Sweet. I want a cakewalk life where I'd be spoon-fed by a sugar mom. Or a sugar dad, whoever would be sexier."

"Ah, then we could set that up into the Filter setting. But, the more you complete worlds without difficulty, the less points you receive."

That's… well, that's fair. Furan didn't feel the need to be petty about it.

"Then," he said instead, "can I.. at least be someone's favorite in my first world?"

If only Raum had an eyebrow, like how it'd wished for a clickable tongue, it would've raised one. "Are you alright?"

Furan rolled his eyes. "It would indirectly give me a comfortable life, duh." He dryly sassed back as though it should be obvious enough. To the system agent, being someone's favorite doesn't necessarily mean a good life, but it made a point in itself not to argue with Furan on these things if it would teach the boy a lesson.

Plus, what's the worst that could happen with being a favorite if not give him a valuable life lesson again when it gets sour?

Furan's hand hovered in front of the 'Start' button, and then at the 'Custom' button when it readily appeared. The system menu was really so much like a game menu that he didn't need to waste too much time on navigating it.

Filter: 'Animal Characteristics' 

It was also so much like that certain BL cartoon porn site he'd frequented in that he almost mechanically typed the next tag he'd always pressed next to 'Animal Characteristics'. Almost.

Raum had been watching Furan type it out. "Are you.. sure about this?"

But the host in question, from where he was sprawled out, just gave a terribly cute pout towards Raum. A sad one that can melt hearts. Bird hearts, at this particular time.

"Is that not possible..?" Now he's just pulling Raum's mechanical heartstrings. But of course, Raum didn't mean to sound disappointed or shocked. If anything, the crow was almost flattered.

It subtly hoped Furan could be a bird, too, in the world he'd be hopping into.

"... you're welcome to do as you like."

As expected, nothing was impossible. Not even a second in when Furan hit the search button and he was already greeted by a lot of different cards representing realities — or worlds — with animal characteristics for its inhabitants.

Just… most of them are locked until Furan clears certain thresholds. Nonetheless he was tempted to key in the 'Mpreg' tag until he remembered he could be one himself, so he opted for 'sugar daddy', already forgetting the Fixed Condition list from earlier. Or maybe he was just straight up ignoring it.

Raum wouldn't approve of the Mpreg either way. Not with Furan still being so young. But why was this kid's internet history heavily saturated with inappropriate stuff, as if he received no parental supervision at all?

It definitely wanted to click its tongue more at this point. Instead, the only thing it could do for now is fortify its resolve.

The oblivious Furan was satisfied with the available options anyways, even if he found himself drooling momentarily at some of the locked ones. He carefully raised a hand again, towards a specific card he'd been eyeing for a while now.

Story Card: "Boys That Bloom In Spring"

Level: 2

Tags: 'Animal Characteristics', 'sugar daddy', 'teacher', 'student', 'shota', 'hardcore', 'drama', …

"NO!" The crow watching him flapped its huge wings in a desperate attempt to stop him. It worked, fortunately or not.

"Why?"

"Just…" Raum calmed down, its small figure drooping as it relaxed a bit, "...have you never learned? Go pick another one. I'll even give you more of my C points if you want."

"Well… alright."

Story Card: "But Cats Can't Eat This Much Sugar!"

Level: 0

Tags: 'Animal Characteristics', 'sugar daddy', 'cat', 'cats', 'mafia', 'slice of life', 'romance'.

Description: A modern world where some animals had evolved and became humans. Snow, a snow leopard demihuman wasted out of the orphanage, was offered a chance to become someone's pet—

"Do I really have to let go of my pink hair?" Furan tore his eyes away from the screen and pouted up at the system. Said system cooed in its mechanical bird heart.

"Are you using your [Pouting] skill on me?"

"No..?" Debatable.

"...anyways, you can choose not to be Snow in the story. But yes: unless you're playing as yourself, you will inevitably lose the pink hair in favor of whatever your character has. You can pick for your first world, or you can let the randomizer decide. Click 'Surprise Me'."

And sure enough, among the list of available characters was the 'Surprise Me' button. He was just being coy, honestly. Furan secretly wanted to be Snow, but at the same time wanted to appear nonchalant about it in front of his system agent for personal reasons. But as soon as Furan clicked on the randomizer, he had also unwittingly triggered the countdown.

「 Transmigrating in ten, nine, eight… 」

Furan didn't forget to give Raum a good glare before he passed out.

「 Optimizing story setting for beginner host… 」

「 Optimizing character setting for beginner host… 」

「 Planting [Mother's Eye]. Progress: 0% 」