Navigating the System

Quick note before the chapter begins: Due to upcoming midterms, I won't be able to upload the next chapter for at least two weeks, possibly up to a month. As a little compensation, this chapter comes in at 2,618 words (not counting this message). Enjoy!

——————————

After relaxing for a while in his mother's arms, Kai decided to focus on the only thing he had control over— the system.

The language barrier was a problem he'd deal with later.

Right now, he had the advantage of understanding the system, which was in English.

That gave him something to work with.

'I guess I should just focus and learn more about the system since it's in English before I try to learn a completely new language,' Kai thought.

Just then, a familiar chime echoed in his mind.

*DING*

<[ New Quest Generated ]>

[ Quest: System Functions ]

[ Objective: Explore System Functions. ]

[ Reward: +1 Stat Point ]

[ Penalty: Unexplored Functions will be lost. ]

[ Time Limit: When you believe you're done exploring the system. ]

< Accept > < Decline>

Kai stared at the quest screen, intrigued by its unusual setup.

'This is a strange quest,' he thought.

'The quest asks me to explore the system functions, but it ends when I decide I'm done exploring.'

'If I miss anything, those functions will be locked out forever.'

After a moment of careful thought, Kai decided to accept the quest.

'Better not leave anything unexplored,' he mused.

To avoid any interruptions, Kai knew he needed a distraction.

To make sure no one would interrupt him, he let out an adorable baby yawn, making his mother smile warmly.

As she gently rocked him, she placed a finger on her lips, signaling to the others in the room to be quieter.

Kai's father and older brother, who had been talking, immediately softened their voices.

'Perfect,' Kai thought.

'No one disturbs a sleeping baby.'

With his eyes closed, Kai focused inward.

'System,' he thought, but nothing appeared.

'Maybe it needs something more specific?' he reasoned.

This time, he thought, 'Status.'

*DING*

Another chime echoed in his mind, and a screen appeared behind his closed eyelids.

The screen displayed:

<[ STATUS ]>

[ Name: Kai (Aiden) ] [ Age: 0 ]

[ Occupation: Locked ] [ Level: Locked ]

[ SP: 5 ] [ MP: Locked ]

[ STR: 0.5 ] [ END: 0.5 ]

[ AGI: 0.5 ] [ DEX: 0.5 ]

[ INT: 8 ] [ WIS: 7 ]

[ CHA: 20 ] [ LUK: 10 ]

[ Stat Points: 1 ]

[ Note: The average stat of an adult male is 10. ]

Kai stared at the screen, a spark of excitement running through him.

'It's just like a game,' he thought.

'I know my life is a game now, but I'm still amazed by it.'

His eyes were drawn to the sections marked Locked.

'Why are they locked?'

'Is it because I'm still a baby? No, that doesn't explain everything,' Kai thought it over.

'Is it because there's nothing supernatural in Oshi No Ko aside from the main characters reincarnating?'

'That could explain why MP is locked… but it still doesn't feel right.'

He thought back to the game's initial setup.

'Didn't the Gamemode say that my life would be like a game and that I could level up?'

'So why lock things in the first place?'

After mulling it over, he came to a possible conclusion.

'Maybe I don't meet the right requirements yet.'

'It's probably because I'm still a newborn, or maybe it's a combination of being young and— some other factor I'm not aware of yet.'

*DING*

[ Through consistent use logical reasoning, you have gained 1 INT ]

Kai grinned internally.

'That confirms it,' he thought, feeling proud of his deduction.

Shifting his attention, he reviewed his physical stats.

'With the average stat for an adult male being 10, as a baby, my stats for strength, endurance, agility, and dexterity being at 0.5 makes sense.'

His gaze moved to his luck stat. 'LUK is average at 10. That's not bad.'

But when his eyes landed on his mental stats, a hint of frustration surfaced.

'I knew I wasn't the brightest, but come on.'

'Even after gaining 1 INT, I'm still two points below average,' he grumbled.

Finally, his eyes rested on his charisma stat, where 20 gleamed proudly.

Kai smirked. 'I'm going to be one hell of a cute baby,' he thought with a touch of cockiness.

He then noticed his unused stat points.

'I have an extra stat point, but I think I'll save that for now.'

'I'd like to see how much I can increase my stats naturally before I hit some sort of limit where I need to use stat points for.'

As he reviewed his status screen, something felt off.

'Wait… where's the rest? Like my skills.'

*DING*

<[ SKILLS ]>

[ Observe (Active): Allows the user to compile the information the user has collected of a specific object and display it in front of him. ]

Kai read the screen and felt pleasantly surprised.

'I only have one skill, but its function is exactly what I thought it would be.'

'I don't have the classic skills like Gamer's Mind or Gamer's Body from those manhwa, but that's fine.'

'Maybe I'll be able to get similar skills later on.'

'I don't know how, but that's a problem for future me to solve.'

He then pondered the implications of having a "game" life.

'Since my life is now a game, wouldn't that mean I have an inventory too?'

*DING*

<[ INVENTORY ]>

[ Empty ]

Rows and columns of empty spaces and equipment slots stretched across the display, seemingly infinite.

Kai grinned, imagining the possibilities that came with having an inventory like this.

After a moment, another thought struck him. 'What about quests?'

*DING*

<[ QUESTS ]>

[ Language Comprehension ] [ + ]

[ System Functions ] [ + ]

'Looks about right. I have two quests,' he noted.

Kai's eyes drifted to the plus symbols next to each quest title.

Curious, he selected them.

The system window expanded displaying more information:

<[ QUESTS ]>

[ Language Comprehension ] [ - ]

[ Objective: Obtain the Language Comprehension Skill ]

[ Reward: Linguistic Talent ]

[ Penalty: None ]

[ Time Limit: Must be completed while you are still a newborn ]

[ System Functions ] [ - ]

[ Objective: Explore System Functions ]

[ Reward: +1 Stat Point ]

[ Penalty: Unexplored Functions will become unavailable. ]

[ Time Limit: When you believe you're done exploring the system. ]

'So, it just reveals more details,' Kai thought, satisfied.

As he reviewed the quests, a new idea began to take shape.

'What exactly triggers a quest to be generated?'

He mentally ran through each one so far.

'The first quest popped up when I wanted to understand my family's language.'

'The second appeared when I wanted to confirm if my new name was Kai.'

'The third triggered when I wanted to explore my system.'

Seeing a pattern, Kai felt a spark of excitement.

'It's my wants and desires! They generate quests.'

'And quests that can be completed within a short period of time give me stat points.'

'The more complicated ones gave entirely different rewards, like the Linguistic Talent from the Language Comprehension quest.'

'Which means, to encourage me to complete them, the system attaches rewards that match the difficulty.'

Testing his theory, Kai focused on one specific desire— and almost immediately, a familiar chime echoed in his mind.

*DING*

<[ New Quest Generated ]>

[ Quest: Save Ai ]

[ Objective: Prevent Ai from being killed by the deranged stalker. ]

[ Reward: ID Create, ID Destroy ]

[ Penalty: Death of Ai ]

[ Time Limit: None ]

< Accept > < Decline>

Kai smiled internally, pleased with his success, and selected Accept.

Just then, another chime echoed.

*DING*

[ Through consistent use of logical reasoning, you have gained 1 INT ]

Kai smirked, pleased with his growing intellect.

'Damn, if I didn't already know my INT stat was below average, I'd say I was a genius all along,' he thought with smug satisfaction.

'Actually… Maybe the system's wrong about my INT.'

'Clearly, my brain operates on a whole other level— a level that a simple RPG stat could never capture.'

His mind spun with possibilities, his inner monologue growing grander by the second.

'I must be one of those rare minds too brilliant to measure.'

'Maybe I've even cracked some hidden code in this system that lesser minds would overlook!'

The more he considered it, the more certain he felt.

'I'm probably so smart, the system just has to give me these INT points to catch up to my real intellect.'

'Yes... that must be it!'

'In fact, I'm already a genius— I mean, who else would have thought to explore the system this way?'

He smirked to himself, his confidence building.

'Maybe I'll unlock abilities that no one else could ever comprehend.'

'I'm bound to discover skills so advanced that the system itself would struggle to keep up!'

He couldn't help but chuckle internally.

'They'll write legends about me, the genius who transcended the system and ascended as god.'

Just as he mentally basked in his newfound status as a misunderstood prodigy, another chime rang out.

*DING*

[ Through consistent use of illogical reasoning, you have lost 1 INT ]

Kai froze, staring at the screen in horror as the words sank in.

His confidence evaporated in an instant.

'Wait! No, please! I was wrong— I'm not a genius!'

'Give it back, please!' he pleaded, desprately.

'I'm just a regular guy, not some prodigy.'

'Just a regular, average guy... please!'

He begged the system for mercy, hoping it might somehow give him back his lost INT.

But his pleas went unanswered, as the system remained indifferent to his cries.

After what felt like an eternity of pleading, he finally sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

'Guess the genius life isn't for me…'

Shaking off his embarrassment, he decided to focus on exploring the system functions again.

'Okay, let's forget that happened.'

He reviewed what he'd already explored.

'I've checked Status, Skills, Inventory, and Quests—standard RPG stuff.'

'But what other functions might be here?' Kai pondered.

'Does the system have a tutorial?' he muttered, hoping for a helpful pop-up, but nothing happened.

'I guess not.'

Then, an idea sparked in his mind. 'How about a system menu?'

The screen responded instantly, shifting once more.

*DING*

<[ MENU ]>

[ Status ] [ Titles ]

[ Skills ] [ Talents ]

[ Inventory ] [ Quest ]

[ Party ] [ Map ]

Kai's eyes widened, awestruck by the range of options.

'Holy crap! There was all this other stuff I didn't even know about!' he thought, amazed.

'If I hadn't thought to try a system menu, I'd have completely missed these!'

He grinned, a new line of thought dawning on him.

'Imagine how many people playing in single-player mode would never figure this out and miss out on these functions entirely.'

'Only someone with my, uh, unique mindset would have thought to look here.'

Feeling like he was back in genius territory, he resolved to make the most of his discovery.

'I've already checked Status, Skills, and Inventory. Let's explore the rest.'

*DING*

<[ TITLES ]>

[ Newborn: For the duration of 2 months, the user will be unable to increase their physical stats. Note: After 2 months, this title will be replaced by <Infant> ]

Kai stared at the title screen, his curiosity piqued.

'Since this title represents my stage in life, does that mean when I'm elderly, I'll start getting weaker?'

The realization made him pause, and a new question surfaced.

'Does this mean I'll eventually die again?' He wondered, feeling a strange weariness.

'If so, will I get another chance to reincarnate?' A glimmer of hope flickered in his mind.

'Or maybe… there's a way to bypass this restriction entirely, something that could let me live forever?'

But he quickly shook off the thought.

'Whatever,' he told himself.

'I just started this life. There's no point in me worrying about my eventual death.'

He moved on to the next option, Talents.

*DING*

<[ TALENTS ]>

[ ???: Talent is currently locked ]

Kai raised an eyebrow, surprised to find that he did have a talent, though it was locked.

'Why is it locked?' he wondered, thinking through the possibilities.

He selected the talent icon, hoping it might reveal how to unlock it, but the screen remained unchanged.

'So, nothing here tells me what I need to do.' He sighed mentally.

'Maybe there's some requirement I haven't met, like reaching a certain age, completing a specific quest, or learning a new skill.'

He then remembered that the reward for one of his quests was a talent.

Kai started wondering if quests might be the only way to gain talents, or if they could be unlocked by some other means as well.

The idea of multiple talents intrigued him, but without more clues, he decided to check out the next system option: Party.

*DING*

<[ PARTY ]>

[ None ]

Kai looked at the blank party screen, and an idea sprang to mind.

'Is this like that gamer manhwa?'

'Could I add people to my party and maybe even give them a gamer system of their own?'

Then, thoughts of Aqua and Ruby filled his mind.

'They've had to carry the weight of reincarnating on their own, hiding something huge from everyone else.'

'It must have felt like a burden to keep it all a secret.'

The more he thought about it, the more it bothered him.

'They had to relive their pasts, alone, with no one to talk to about it. Not even with each other.'

'And that would make everything harder— not just keeping it secret but moving on and finding joy in their new lives.'

'If I could add them to my party, maybe they wouldn't have to feel so isolated by their secrets,' Kai thought, his excitement growing.

'We could help each other out, and they could experience this life in a whole new way.'

'Imagine giving them the chance to experience their lives as a game too,' he thought excitedly.

'If Ruby had a system, I could help her with her dream of becoming an idol.'

'Maybe the system could improve her singing and give her skills to boost her stage presence.'

The thought thrilled him. 'Helping Ruby achieve her goals, while supporting her with the tools to make her dreams possible.'

Then there was Aqua.

'He's obsessed with finding his father, and if he had system skills, I could help him do it faster.'

'The system could give us skills to track people down, analyze situations... maybe even detect lies.'

'But Aqua could use more than just help with his goals.'

'He needs something to remind him that life isn't all about revenge.'

Kai felt a wave of determination.

'If we're going to live a second life together, maybe I can help Aqua enjoy it more.'

Feeling motivated, he noted to himself, 'I'll have to test this out in the future.'

'If it works, we could go on quests together, explore, and maybe make this life better than our last.'

With a sense of purpose, he checked out the last option, Map.

The screen shifted to display a simple, two-dimensional layout of his room, marked with the text "Hospital Room?".

At the center was a small dot, which he guessed represented himself.

'Looks like this map fills in as I go to new places,' Kai observed.

'Right now, there are no other dots on the screen, so it seems to only show the layout.'

He frowned, wondering if it could offer more.

'In most games, maps show more than just the layout.'

'They highlight other entities like NPCs, players, or even monsters.'

Still, it was useful enough for now, and he was satisfied.

Just as he finished exploring, a familiar chime echoed in his mind.

*DING*

<[ Quest Completed ]>

[ Quest: System Functions ]

[ Objective: Explore System Functions ]

[ Reward: +1 Stat Point ]

[ Bonus: +5 Stat Points for exploring all system functions ]

Kai grinned at the unexpected bonus.

'Six extra points. Not a bad reward for a bit of exploring.'

Feeling more prepared, he thought about all he'd learned and how he could use the system.

He was ready to make this second life count, not only for himself but for Aqua and Ruby too.

'This is just the beginning,' he thought, already planning ways to use his new abilities to support them. 'With six stat points in reserve, I'd say this new life is off to a good start.'

章 4: Navigating the System

バッチアンロック

章 4: Navigating the System

バッチアンロック

目次

表示オプション

章のコメント

段落のコメント