The System

In the end, they did not believe I was not part of any kingdom. They had no reason to believe me, while I was a human surrounded by creatures of different species.

It was the demand from Dara to not have me killed, yet, she got curious about the error that appeared on that screen.

"I have never seen such a message on the system" She was inspecting me with her eyes "This is something I cannot let go of. An anomaly!"

"Are you crazy, Dara? This human smells like problems!" said the Queen.

"Or a breakthrough, Kali- I mean, my Queen" She fixed her glasses after her fumble. "I ask that I am allowed to run checks and experiments with this human."

Kali, which I suppose is the name of the queen, scoffed and then looked at me dismissively. I scoffed back at their banter. I was not keen on turning into anyone's science toy.

"Do I have a say in all of this?!" I asked.

Both women looked at me for a few moments. Kali squinted her eyes.

"If the System is saying there is a problem with him, probably we could learn something to give us the edge we need" Said Dara.

"We are not that desperate"

"I disagree. We are past desperation"

Kali gave a mean look towards Dara and then made a gesture with her hand and the orc forced me to stand up. He held me by the chains and made me face the queen. Some of my hair was messy and started to block my view, so I blew it away.

"You will comply," she said while looking at me. "That, or I have you beheaded. This better not be a waste of time, Dara" Then she talks to the orc "Once you are done carrying him, go check on the scouts. The reports have been going crazy for a few days"

"Of course, my queen" Dara answered while fixing her glasses once more, then turned to the orc. "Take him to my laboratory."

I was dragged while still chained and with the rope on my neck through the castle they brought me in. As we walked I noticed that it was in a very sorry state. Some of the walls were crumbling, many carpets broken and torn, and I barely saw anything that could be considered a servant that you would expect to see on a building like this. The place was in a sorry state, to say the least.

A couple of times I would trip but the orc held me and forced me to keep walking. Scoffing, I continued walking to whatever place they were guiding me.

The room I was brought upon was a study, with books and tables. The tables and shelves on the walls were filled with different tomes, glass containers with different liquids, and other random items. In the middle of the room was a large circle drawn on the floor with many symbols and sigils, like the ones you would expect when performing magic rituals. A weird sweet smell was in the room, probably coming from a table with what seemed to be an archaic chemistry set on top of it, some liquids were placed over a small fire, causing them to boil.

I was thrown inside by the orc, feeling the metal chains bury themselves in my flesh as I fell to the ground, gasping and screaming out of pain. He left the room and behind came Dara and her companion, observing me. She made a move with her hand and my restraints were gone.

"If you behave I will keep you without a leash" She started to remove the leash from my neck. She was wearing perfume, and I could feel the flowery aroma coming from her. "Well, if you don't Kali will kill you anyway, which would be waste."

"Great, I love my choices," I said sarcastically while looking at her. I checked my neck with my hand, which was still hurting from being strangled. "I either die or become your toy"

"Don't say it like that. I have no intention of hurting you... yet, at least" There was a sly smile on her face for a mere second, enough for me to register it. I was afraid now of what she was thinking.

"Can you at least answer me some questions?"

"Certainly," She said while she walked to a sofa in the room close to the bookshelves. "Ask away. From your story earlier I have the feeling I need to put you up to speed. Considering the predicament you just explained in the throne room, I am sure you are full of questions."

"Yeah, where am I?" I asked while looking at her, still checking on my neck "And what is that talk about a system... what was that screen that appeared in front of me... and what are you? Are there other humans even around?"

Dara fixed her glasses after all of my questions. They were a lot, it seems.

"Let's start with the simple one. You are on the Neutral Lands. Owned by no faction right now. At least since a couple of months ago" She paused for a second "And about the Ad Infinitum System, it is a magic system implemented by the 4 gods of this world, reasons unknown. Show Status" Once she said the same words I was made to say in the throne room, a screen appeared in front of her.

[Name: Dara]

[Class: Arcanist]

[Race: Vulpin]

[Level: 10]

[HP: 100/100 MP: 220/220]

[STR: 20 DEX: 14 INT: 40 AIM: 18 DEF: 10 RES: 30]

[Professions: Magic Researcher Lv2, Enchanter Lv3, Transcription Lv2]

[Passives: Magic Regen, High Focus, Trained Mind]

This has to be some form of joke, right? What I was seeing was like something right out of a video game. Stats? Levels? Professions? I must be dreaming, I believed, it was impossible that it was like that. I repeated the words "Show Status" and the Critical Error message appeared once more.

"That is what I want to figure out" Dara stood up and got closer "I deduce that on your world this does not exist. Yet you have it and you can use it, but seems broken, in some way. Do you feel anything weird?"

"Weird? Like how?" I asked "I don't feel weird... I mean, I had a few drinks before this all happened, but I do not feel alcohol on me anymore" That is when I touched my hair, then my face. It felt... weird, different. Like, everything was there, but alien "N-no... something ain't right with me..."

"Come" She walked towards furniture with a large piece of cloth on top of it, removing it and revealing a mirror "Take a look at yourself"

When I did I was surprised. It was me, but not. I knew the person I was seeing was myself, but I looked completely different. My eye color went from brown to green, and my hair was still black but was a bit longer and more straight. My nose was better defined... everything was different from how I remembered my face. I was wearing a white shirt and some brown pants that I had never seen in my life.

In the panic, I step back and trip with nothing, falling to the ground. Dara and her helper only watch me. I keep looking in the mirror. I was feeling panic, the whole situation had just dawned on me. I was in a different world, I was with a different body. The pain I felt when I was picked up by that entity was my body tearing apart as it was destroyed. I checked myself with my hands, my body was different but everything was there. All my limbs, torso. I opened my shirt to check myself, my torse was intact. My breathing was heavy, I was sweating bullets and was having a hard time to breath.

"W-what is going on?! W-where am I?!" I asked, looking up at Dara and her companion. I could feel my heart on my neck, as if it was looking to escape from the situation.

She smirked, either of amusement by my reaction or a sudden realization she just had at that point. She pointed at me and her companion nodded, and walked to help me stand up. I accepted the help and he walked me to take a seat.

"Kali will be glad of one thing. At least you are not lying to us" Dara said when I was sitting. The fellow went to a faucet they had on one side, close to what seemed to be an alchemy station, and returned to me with a glass of water that I took with gratefulness. "And we are going to figure out exactly that and what is wrong with your System, and hopefully get it working."

How could I be lying? All of this was too crazy to come up just on the spot and it took one of them to see me having a full panic attack to start to believe the madness I was just living through.