Chapter 10- System's arrival

'.....' The moment that monotonous voice echoed, it felt eerily familiar—not in a way I had ever heard before, but as if it had been ingrained in my imagination, the very voice I had always envisioned a web novel system using when speaking to its host—reverberating in my ears.

For others, it might have been surprising, even shocking. But for me, who had spent so much of my free time reading novels, it wasn't surprising at all, especially after everything I had gone through in a single day—dying, transmigrating, and even ending up inside a novel.

What could possibly shock me more? A system?

No, it was the least of my concerns in this world.

But one thing was genuinely amusing: how the system referred to Kyle as weaker than an ant now that he was dead.

It just revealed how, once a person dies, their value plummets to the ground. All the strength, power, and money they possessed while alive become null and void.

'Weaker than an ant for a major character? Funny.' I couldn't help but shake my head before taking my steps forward. The system had already delayed its arrival, and Kyle was dead.

So, the plot of the Invincible Domain System was over before it could even begin.

There was no need for me to stay here any longer.

[Funny? Are you that much of a narcissist that you missed the fact that I was directing my words at you, Host?]

'Huh?' I halted and looked around, not finding the typical screen windows of the system around me, which are usually the telltale signs for any transmigrator to identify that they've awakened a system.

The only thing present was the voice in my mind, which I initially thought was coming from near Kyle, who might have awakened his system after death. But now, it was clearly referring to me.

Even more baffling was the fact that the system was calling me Host.

'Do you refer to me as Host?' I definitely heard it clearly, but there were already enough doubts for me to hardly believe the present reality, let alone what I had just heard.

Any sane person returning from their office, completely exhausted, and then getting killed due to some stupid woman would find it hard to adjust to what should have been nothing but a fantasy.

Yet, here I was, trying to make sense of it all while things were becoming increasingly dramatic.

Right now, we were talking about one of the few strongest systems in the entire world-building of this novel, and instead of Kyle, it was referring to me as its host.

[Of course, it's you, Kyle. I checked the photo.]

'....'

'....Ah, I see.' Hearing the system's voice clarify how wholeheartedly it had confirmed my identity as Kyle, I stood there, blankly, while my memories recalled all the novels where I had seen systems possessing enormous strength—some with mechanical structures, others with consciousness. Some were smart enough to suck away their host's life, some cunning, some dangerous, and so on.

But never in my whole life had I seen, let alone read about, a system so stupid that it couldn't even identify its own host.

'But...' Naturally, I had learned from experience never to give someone free advice, as it could only lead to consequences. It's better to give a little push to someone trying to jump off a cliff rather than save them—this is exactly how one survives in this world.

So, I was just going to accept whatever the system was saying, given how I, as a human, had less brainpower than a system built on calculations and algorithms—it impossible for it to be wrong here, 'Yes, you caught me, even though a fake doppelganger of mine is lying dead over there. You easily distinguished that I am Kyle.'

[Ahem, I don't praise myself, but I am one of the strongest and smartest systems you can ever have! Trust me, Host.]

'Yes, yes, I trust you. Now, form the bond.' Without a moment of delay—before it realized for some reason that I wasn't the real Kyle—I instantly told the system to form a bond with me.

In this world, there isn't just one system—there are 2-3 more, though they aren't something that will be revealed anytime soon.

The origin of these systems is rooted in a fascinating hypothesis. It was believed that when people across the nine realms die, their astral forms transform into starlight, which then condenses into binary numbers.

For males, it's a "one," and for females, it's a "zero."

Over time, as countless souls failed to reincarnate, these binary numbers accumulated, eventually giving birth to sentient beings known as systems.

Now, this might sound like pure sci-fi, but the author blended it with a cultivation-themed world filled with characters sporting Western names.

This mix of fantasy and martial arts influences hints at the author's creative inspiration, born from desperation to escape readers' questions. But this was the major reason his book was only liked by me—I always found it hard to remember names from normal cultivation novels.

A system born from the merging of souls? Even a child could say the concept might at first appear unique, but it just destroyed the whole "invincible" feel the author was trying to give these systems from the start—another flaw in the storyline that made readers lose interest.

How can a system even be invincible if it's made from dead people instead of arriving from a Systemverse or being created by almighty beings?

Each system, in a way, is a manifestation of these binary beings, born from the collective energy of the dead who couldn't move on to their next life.

The concept of the "bond" between systems and their owners was introduced because of those same questions from readers, which forced the author to hastily write the origin and messed up the whole mysterious, invincible feeling.

When readers started calling the systems "parasites" or "devils," accusing them of being evil, the author decided to clarify their origins, but it was already too late.

He explained that when a system bonds with its owner, they enter a mutual coexistence agreement—a contract that neither party can break without severe consequences.

If a system violates the agreement, it simply ceases to exist.

This whole setup was the author's way of avoiding the hassle of constantly explaining why systems are loyal.

Ironically, he didn't even stick to his own rules, casually pointing out loopholes in the contract as the story progressed.

A few systems did end up betraying their owners later on, but of course, the system I'm talking about here was different.

After witnessing its sharp, almost terrifyingly intelligent judgment, I realized something: out of 14,000,605 possible scenarios, this system wouldn't even think about exploiting a single loophole.

No, it was more that it couldn't even think such a loophole existed, even if it tried.

If stupidity were a system, this one would be the pinnacle. No wonder, in the original story, the realms were in chaos with things like this running around.

It's almost impressive how something so powerful can be this utterly brainless. A walking, talking disappointment.

[Oh, so Host is aware of the mutual agreement! Indeed—]

:: What the hell? This thing can't even tell its host apart from a corpse. How pathetic. It's no wonder the dead souls that formed it couldn't move on—they were too embarrassed to exist as this. ::

'!?'

[!?]

'I nearly forgot about the crow sitting on my head again.' Given her nearly weightless body, I found it difficult to notice or even remember the existence of that woman seated on my head.

Her voice, just as usual, was arrogant and sharp as she remarked, letting me know that she could hear the system.

And from the system's surprise, it was also clear that it could see her.

But the bigger problem now was that she had called the system an idiot and even insulted it.

'Can't you stay quiet for a second, idiot? I should have trapped this gullible system, but now...' At that moment, I felt like cursing the woman who not only killed me and brought us into this messed-up world but was now visibly ruining my perfect plan. It was evident that she had told the system I wasn't the real Kyle.

After all, the system could be stupid, but not so stupid that it wouldn't process her words.

[H-HOW DO YOU KNOW MY ORIGIN!?]

'Lucky me. This idiot really only focused on half of the sentence.'

[AND WHAT DO YOU MEAN THAT MY HOST IS A CORPSE!?]

'Fuck.'