Chapter 4: System

Chen's lavender eyes widened, excitement flooding his face. "The system, finally!" he exclaimed, his voice echoing in the empty room.

With his heart racing, he turned to the mirror, his eyes gleaming with intensity. "System, can you hear me?!" he asked, anxiously awaiting a response.

Silence. ..

Chen's smile faded, replaced by confusion and anxiety. "System?" he repeated, his voice trembling. "Are you there?..."

Nothing...

A chill ran down his spine. Had it all been an illusion?

"No!" Chen shouted, slamming his fist on the edge of the sink. "It can't be!"

He closed his eyes tightly, focusing on the mechanical voice he'd heard. "System, open my panel!" he ordered, his voice filled with determination.

In that instant, a translucent screen appeared before him, floating in the air like a mirage. It was a deep red, with black lettering.

Chen let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness," he murmured, running his fingers across the screen. "At least it works."

But his relief was short-lived. "Why aren't you responding?" he asked aloud, frowning. "Are you defective or something?"

The system remained silent, as if it hadn't heard his words.

"Tsk," Chen clicked his tongue, crossing his arms.

"Sigh... well, at least it's not a chatty system bombarding me with notifications and missions every five minutes," he murmured, trying to find the silver lining.

Shaking his head, Chen walked to his room and sat on the edge of the bed, beginning to examine the panel.

It was surprisingly simple, with only three tabs: Lottery, Store, and Backpack.

....

"I expected something more... 'technological'," he muttered, shrugging.

"Let's start with the store," Chen said enthusiastically, tapping the corresponding tab.

The screen transformed, revealing two giant words in flashing golden letters: "Omnipotent Store." Chen blinked several times, surprised by the grandiosity of the name.

Below the words, an endless array of items appeared, making him drool with greed, each one with a price in coins. Chen rubbed his hands together in excitement. "This is amazing!" he exclaimed, scrolling through the screen.

But his excitement faded upon seeing the exorbitant prices. Most items cost hundreds of thousands, even millions of coins.

"And where am I supposed to get so many coins?" Chen wondered, searching for information about his balance. In the upper right corner of the screen, he found the answer: 30,000 coins.

"Thirty thousand?" Chen exclaimed, incredulous. "Where did these come from? A welcome gift from the system? Or maybe an error?"

He decided not to overthink it. After all, he wasn't going to reject free coins. He returned to the list of items, this time looking for something he could afford and that would help him improve his strength.

But after scrolling for several minutes, he found nothing within his budget. Everything was too expensive.

"System!" Chen shouted, losing patience. "Show me the items I can buy!"

To his surprise, the screen flickered and the list of items drastically reduced, showing only those costing 30,000 coins or less.

A smile spread across Chen's face. "Now we're talking," he said, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

But after scrolling, Chen frowned. "Wait a minute..." he muttered, "the Thousand Sunny? Poké Ball? Cultivation techniques? What the hell?"

The store was filled with items from different universes and fictional worlds. While some were interesting, like a lightsaber or Iron Man's armor, nothing was exactly what Chen wanted.

_____

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