Chapter 1: New World

"Ugh, my head feels like it's been hit by a fucking truck!" The man groaned, lying sprawled out on a large, pristine king-size bed in a spacious room. The walls were decorated with ancient paintings, and a wardrobe stood quietly to one side, alongside a few other items that seemed unimportant at the moment.

"Huh? Where am I?" His confused gaze scanned the room, his thoughts sluggish and fragmented. Then it hit him, a cold, horrible memory — he'd been shot in the head.

"H-how... am I still alive?" His pupils dilated as panic gripped him. The impossible scenario seemed like something straight out of a movie. His fingers pressed against the side of his head, half-expecting to find the wound, but there was nothing.

"It shouldn't be possible for someone to survive a bullet to the brain..." He muttered to himself, trying to break the rising tension with a joke. His heartbeat hammered in his chest, but the attempt at humor did little to calm the storm of confusion inside.

He tried to sit up, but as his feet touched the cool floor, a sharp, cold, mechanical voice suddenly rang out in his mind.

[Ding, congratulations host on awakening the "Chest Opener" system.]

"What…?" His voice trailed off, shock numbing his limbs as his brain struggled to process the words.

"A… system?" He barely managed a whisper, his body still stiff with disbelief. The idea of a 'system'—the kind he'd read about in countless novels—was absurd. But there it was, right inside his head.

Maybe... Maybe the system knows why I'm not dead... A sliver of hope flickered in his mind. If anyone could explain what the hell had happened to him, it might be this system.

He sighed, though the unease still gnawed at him. "Alright, System... Tell me. How am I here? How am I alive?" he demanded, the weight of the situation pushing his voice to rise.

There was a long, excruciating silence. Just as the panic started to surge again, the voice replied, robotic and cold:

[Bzzz! The host is not yet suited to know the details. Get stronger.]

"Typical..." He groaned, pressing his palm to his forehead in exasperation. Of course. Just like every damn novel he'd read, the response was always the same: "Get stronger before you get answers."

He rolled his eyes. "Why does it feel like I'm stuck in one of those trash novels?"

A deep sigh escaped him as he tried to focus. "Fine, fine… I get it. You want me to get strong. But what exactly can you do, and how the hell do I get stronger?"

The voice seemed to pause before responding again, as though it were taking a moment to calculate its answer.

[Ding, with this system, the host can now see eggs above people's heads. By fulfilling the conditions attached to these eggs, the host can claim them, receiving random skills, items, and abilities of the person it's linked to.]

"Eggs...?" he muttered under his breath. He shook his head, feeling like he was losing his mind. But before he could process this new development, another thought popped into his head.

"Wait... are there different levels or colors for these rewards? I've seen something like this before in novels."

[Ding, the host is correct. There are several colors indicating different levels of rewards: white, yellow, blue, red, black, and golden. White is the weakest, often resulting in useless or low-grade rewards, while golden signifies the highest level—powerful, sometimes overpowered rewards.]

"Great..." He muttered dryly. "Just like every other cliché system out there. White rewards are trash, and golden ones are OP. How original."

As he processed this new information, his gaze wandered around the room again. His mind was trying to piece things together. The room felt almost medieval, but there was something distinctly wrong with it. The window, for example, was wide open to the outside, yet there was no visible source of light. It wasn't like the artificial bulbs from his old world; the light seemed to come from nowhere.

And the world beyond... A massive, rolling expanse of land stretched toward an enormous mountain in the distance. It looked like something out of a fantasy novel. His heart raced, a mix of dread and curiosity rising inside him.

"Okay, this is real. I'm not dreaming. I'm in some fucked up world," he murmured, rubbing his temples. He couldn't even begin to understand how he had ended up here, but the presence of the system at least offered a shred of control.

"Alright, System. Let's cut the crap. What's the deal with these 'eggs'? How do I use them? Do I just... talk to people?" He wasn't sure if he was asking the right questions, but he had no better idea of what to do next.

The voice responded in its typical, detached manner.

[Ding, the host must interact with individuals to unlock eggs. Each egg has a specific condition. Once the condition is fulfilled, the host can claim the reward.]

"Great... so I've got to fulill conditions, tasks of random people's and hope they have eggs floating above their heads," he muttered, realizing how ridiculous this all sounded. "And then... get stronger by taking their stuff? Is that it?"

For a brief moment, he considered trying to make sense of the situation, but his head throbbed with pain, and the weight of it all made his thoughts scatter. There was only one thing he could focus on for now.

"Oh yeah, System, I've seen so many novels and usually, the system gives some sort of a beginner pack or newbie gift to its host. Is there any for me?!" He asked eagerly, hoping for an overpowered reward like the ones fantasy novel protagonists always seemed to get.

[Bzz! Rewards are earned, host. Nothing comes free.]

"Tsk, so stingy." He clicked his tongue in annoyance.

Just as he was about to check out any remaining features of the system, a knock on the door broke his concentration. It was a sharp reminder that he wasn't in his old world anymore. He was in a completely new one. And with no memory of his predecessor, he knew nothing about this strange world or what lay ahead.

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Eh, I haven't written anything in the past few months so, idk, maybe it's trash, maybe it's good. Ig it depends on you!