ALL NOVEL 2. System, Child of Calamity
Bu Cai abruptly awoke.
He felt as if he had just regained consciousness from fainting, and this confused him a lot.
Wasn't he supposed to not be...Conscious?
He was bewildered by these turn of events, but still came to his sense and attempted to identify his current situation.
Where was this place?
...Nowhere.
This location -If you could even call it that- was one bereft of any colour.
If he was to try and explain it in terms such that someone could understand it, he'd compare it to an ethereal pure white that surrounded him for a whole 360 degrees.
He also felt as if he was standing on something, yet as he looked down he had come to find out he wasn't!
Yet that wasn't the most pressing issue here.
Upon coming to the realisation that he was afloat, he also came to a rude awakening in the form of...
...Nothing.
When he meant nothing, he mean ABSOLUTELY nothing.
None of 'him' was present by the fact that his physical self wasn't there.
No arms, no legs, no toes... NOTHING.
Even his manhood vanished!
Panic began to build up inside him- or whatever was left of him.
Was he going to stay like this?
Like a pile of consciousness in the this abyss of nothingness?
The panic soon turned into dread, and that dread brought along a series of terrifying questions, such as:
What am I?
Is this going to be my new eternity?
Am I still me?
Why must I suffer...!
...
But then, as if something was forcing him to... the restlessness and uneasiness that he had was suddenly replaced by serenity.
His grotesque thoughts were now gone, and all that remained was calmness.
...
With his new mental state, that wasn't convoluted with all the panic induced drivel, he thought back to what he knew about life after death so that he could plan his next actions here.
Back on Earth he wasn't a particularly religious man in any way, shape, or form. He was educated enough to know the basics, but wasn't by any means any means an expert in the topic.
The most prominent idea which first popped in his head was... 'Is this heaven?'
Honestly, he only loosely knew the term' heaven', and from his point of view he believed it to be something akin to a paradise for those who had been 'good' during their lifetime.
But the idea of this being a heaven was soon discarded as although it may be peaceful, it sure as hell wasn't a paradise of any sorts.
Speaking of hell, he also envisioned it as some form of punishment.
It seemed somewhat plausible to him that being confined to eternal solitude within this void, would be a solid way of making evil doers to repent.
Yet this led to another question.
What had he ever done wrong to deserve this?
Did the almighty one make a mistake by chance, and accidentally brought this upon him? As he was very confident that he hadn't done anything horrible in his life to deserve this!
Just when he was going to continue pondering over what this was, golden words that vividly contrasted with the white background appeared in front of him.
Along with this string of text came a cold mechanical voice.
The message that he soon realised he could read, said,
[Hello Host, I am your personal system that has been assigned to help prevent you from ceasing to exist.]
...
See all that serenity and calmness that snapped him out of his panicked state before?
It was now completely ineffective.
Just the allure of a System had awakened an overwhelming level of excitement- One that he never knew he even had!
How could it not?!
He couldn't possibly call himself an avid webnovel reader if he didn't know about the greatness of a System!
He began to recall all the incredible Systems he had read about. Each and every one had helped their respective host reach the the pinnacle of just about anything.
The Host wanted to acquire a shitload of bitches?
Fret not for the 'Pussy Slaying' System was delighted to assist!
The Host wanted Infinite Power?
You needn't worry as the 'Get Your Ass To The Gym' System was ready to help!
...
It was safe to say that the System was a key that allowed you to unlock any desire and let you fly to the sky- Both literally and metaphorically.
If Bu Cai could shit right now, he would shit himself without shame- as this overload of exhilaration was too much.
His desire to find out the functions of the System was all taken in by the System, and it responded to him by giving a description and some information about itself in it's monotonous and mechanical tone,
[I am here to assist Host in standing against the pesky cockroaches of the Multiverse, Fortuned Ones.]
[These 'Fortuned Ones' are all people with immense fortune which allows them to reach the pinnacle and live a life however they want, as everything will go their way, one way or another.]
[An example of what sort of individual a Fortuned One is, can be linked to various protagonists in the novels of your previous world, such as... Xianxia MCs, Urban MCs, Wuxia Mcs, and the like.]
[In Summary, these 'Fortuned Ones' drain the different universes' source energy and don't return anything as they are greedy cockroaches.]
[So your job is to vanquish them on the behest of these universes, and help them out with this issue.]
[In return for doing so, you get to keep existing alongside also being able to live in that universe and do whatever you want- until you pass away. And if you would not like to do so, then you can move to the next universe to start hunting more whenever you see fit.]
[Aside from both of those benefits, you will also be able to gain a certain amount of source energy yourself- the amount varies on from universe to universe- and this source energy can utilised through the system to receive almost anything.]
Bu Cai was absolutely awe-struck.
To think he would get the chance to Xianxia in person!
Such a thing was a dream to him.
As although the world of Xianxia was one that is ruthless and cruel, and the thought of killing and scheming was not something a modern man like him could comprehend currently...
...It was also filled with endless adventure and opportunities which, up till now, he could only read about!
This was something he had imagined multiple times thought his misery during his past life, however he thought it was only ever going to stay an illusion.
But know he has the chance to do it!
He was ecstatic... however one other question was nagging him.
...Why him?
He didn't believe that after being haunted by misfortune his whole life, he'd now suddenly been blessed with an opportunity of a lifetime- which ironically came after his lifetime- for the sake of it.
The System promptly answered his question by saying,
[As Host has recently learned, there are people who live with immense fortune and providence throughout their entire lifetime.]
[So likewise, there will be cases of the opposite.]
[These individuals are called 'Children of Calamity'.]
[They live lives of immense misfortune, and encounter tribulations no matter what they do or how they do it. And due to Host being No.1 in this criteria, naturally you would be the most suitable for the job of fighting Fortuned Ones.]
[This is because a skilled cockroach needs an equally as skilled bug-catcher to get rid of it, therefore a bearer of luck similarly needs to be suppressed by a bearer of misfortune.]
[So all in all, you can attribute this opportunity to your misfortune.]
...
...
It truly seemed like the expression 'There will be opportunity within calamity', had some truth behind it after all.
As he was a headstrong individual, Bu Cai quickly recovered from the shock of finding evidence that he was quite literally the unluckiest under the heavens.
But he also didn't forget to instantly put 'get rid of misfortune' at the top of his bucket list for things to do with universe source once he gets his hands on it.
Or, at least, he'll die trying.
After affirming this, he then went on to ask the System about the next problem on his mind,
"How could I kill someone blessed with fortune, if I'll be running into death at every corner I take?"
"It doesn't matter if I can suppress his fortune or not, if I can't even get close to him without getting slapped to death from bumping into some powerful cultivator due to my misfortune."
"Heck! lets not even talk about the fact that I couldn't even kill a chicken, let alone a human!"
The System replied in it's same mechanical voice,
[Worry not Host, as the System has derived a way to only gain benefits from the having misfortune.]
[The System will use it's stored credit to initially suppress the misfortune on you for three worlds, which then allows you to complete some bug swatting. Afterwards you will be able to use the universe energy gained to modify your bad luck with a, {Cockroach Luck Repellent}.]
[It is highly advised though that the Host strives to complete at least one world of the three so that you can change your misfortune or, realistically speaking, you will never be able to best a Fortuned One.]
Happiness arose in Bu Cai with the knowledge that there was still a sliver of hope, but he was confused by what the system meant by the latter part of it's talk...
So he asked, "I can fail universes and continue living?"
The system explained,
[Yes Host, If Host fails to recover the source energy from the Fortuned One or dies during the mission, the Host will be removed from universe.]
[Said universe will then either freeze itself for the chance that something will save it, or let the protagonist feed off it's source energy until the universe collapses. The Host will then be issued a penalty on return in the form of losing system credits, which is essentially you and I's existence.]
[If we run out of system credits, then we will cease to exist.]
[Amount of System credit can be increased through source energy.]
...
Bu Cai didn't see himself as a hero or saint, and in fact despised people due to having seen the ugly side of society. However he still understood that the guilt of causing of the eventual death of a universe full of an almost endless number of organisms wouldn't be pleasant- Though he was only causing it indirectly if he failed.
The main thing that raised his determination, was the fact that he would die if he didn't acquire some of the universe source energy.
So even if he didn't want to do it for anyone else, he had to do it for his own self-preservation!
...