4 System

Universe X, Planet Zero, somewhere in Nullvard.

A man was lying alone on the floor, unconscious and vulnerable in an unknown place.

Liam Kai's thumb suddenly convulsed as his eyeballs moved inside his eyelids.

He gradually opened his eyes after he regained a little consciousness, glimpsing the entirely white sky.

He deliberately tilted his head to inspect his surroundings, still drowsy while seeing alternating black and white squares designs on the floor that seemed like a chessboard and was stretched out as far as he could see.

'Huh!? Where am I?' He asked himself while articulating his thoughts.

There was no noticeable infrastructure or any establishment nearby but it felt like someone's watching him uncannily.

The preternatural circumstance instantly unsettled his feeling.

Despite that, Liam Kai slowly rose his upper body, gently caressing his head as he began to recollect the last thing that he could remember.

As his last memories streamed uncontrollably in his head, he hastily began to panic.

He frantically inspected his body to check his severed limbs, only to find out that he was clad with the exact shirt, vest, coat, tie, pants, shoes, and even the undergarment that he wore in his wedding but with his detective trench coat on top all of it.

Then, he lightly choked his neck to feel the pain that could convince him that everything was truly attached and functional after the Warden severed it a few moments ago.

'How long I was out? What is this place, anyway? It doesn't look heaven to me,' Liam Kai forcefully shook his head to snap out of his unnecessary thoughts before he stood up.

He instinctively rubbed his blurry eyes after pulling the eyeglasses slightly upwards as his feet began to take a step forward, sauntering the bizarre place he was in.

'I am breathing. I could feel my body so this wasn't a spiritual thing or something. But what am I supposed to do here?' Liam Kai inwardly complained as his eyes darted all around the place but he could see nothing but purely white sky and the chessboard-like floor.

It was a languorous and sultry plain looking place.

It felt like he could wander all day but he wouldn't arrive anywhere but in the same tedious place as if the place was moving along with him.

The same feeling when he was a kid, thinking that the moon was following him as he moved around.

**DING!**

Liam Kai flinched and instinctively tilted his body sideways and splayed his fingers to the sound's direction to protect himself, glancing over his shoulder and peering in the gaps of his fingers to see what appeared from the sound's direction.

A luxurious-looking translucent blue screen with high-tech-looking designs on the border was floating.

[Welcome to the <Tyrants' Mighty Tower>]

- You are reanimated on Nullvard to participate in the pre-trial.

"I beg your pardon?" He reflexively inquired to the system's mechanical voice.

[The System will scan your disposition]

[The System will scan your physical constitution]

[The System will scan your memories]

[Initiation process]

[Initializing... Please wait...]

[3%] [6%] [1%]

[Scanning. Please wait]

[15%] [12%] [10%]

[Scanning. Please wait]

The mechanical voice rambled several messages that also headlined on the translucent screen, ignoring his question.

[Scanning. Please wait]

[27%] [24%] [22%]

[Scanning. Please wait]

[39%] [38%] [36%]

[Scanning. Please wait]

Before he realized it, Liam Kai couldn't move his body anymore as if he was literally petrified by an unseen force.

[Scanning. Please wait]

[53%] [51%] [50%]

[Scanning. Please wait]

[69%] [65%] [63%]

[Scanning. Please wait]

As the system scanned his body, he felt like millions of ants crawled up in his skin, covering his entire body and biting him all at the same time even though they weren't actually there.

'Ahh... What in the hell?' He thought as he attempted to scream but he couldn't move his jaw nor his tongue.

His body began to twist and convulse wildly as if some else was forcefully overtaking control of it, followed by an excruciating headache.

[Scanning. Please wait]

[88%] [85%] [83%]

[Scanning. Please wait]

[99%] [97%] [95%]

[Scanning. Please wait]

He was trained to resist severe tortures as an enforcer of law but he internally screamed as he felt his flesh all over his body being torn apart by the countless ants' mandibles that weren't actually there.

[Scan complete!]

As soon as it ended, Liam Kai collapsed on the chessboard-like floor, breathing heavily after he felt the most painful experience in his life, far more painful than being crucified.

While the system was scanning, it felt like his innards were disassembled and assembled all over again and his blood felt like boiling literally inside his veins.

Hisssss...

A hissing sound filled the quiet place from Liam Kai's steaming body when suddenly...

**DING!**

[The system identified your human lesser species]

- The system gave you an Extrasensory Perception because of your Lesser Species traits.

- All of your physical capabilities and senses are enhanced dramatically.

[The system identified your Marksman Battle Type]

[The system identified your Brawler Battle Type]

[The system identified your overall characteristics]

[The system bestowed you the Agility Class]

[The system is looking for Battle Skills fitted for you in Skills Galore]

[Searching...]

Despite not knowing what's going on, Liam Kai ignored all of it as all of his strength left his body earlier and he couldn't understand what it was about.

After a while, he mustered his strength and tilted his body to read the message as he didn't understand the mechanical voice after the notification sound because of the unbearable headache.

Once again, it rang and gave another series of messages.

**Ding!**

[You've received Psychometry skill]

- by making physical contact with an object or a creature, the player could peer in the past events in their history via a spectral presentation in the player's surroundings.

Mana Cost: None

Cooldown: None

Cast time: None

Note: The skill is very powerful for your species. It would quickly drain your mental strength and stamina. Use it wisely.

[You've received Death Shot skill]

- While in the Marksman Mode, the player has a chance to deliver devastating critical shots from great distances.

- Critical Chance: 15%

- Critical Damage: 200%

[You've received Ash Phoenix Fist skill]

- While in the Brawler Mode, Ash Phoenix sets the player's fists ablaze with its holy fire, gaining 5% more damage every successful hit on the same enemy. If the same enemy is not attacked in 10 seconds, the bonus damage will reset.

Note: Stackable to 200%. Can take effect on different targets simultaneously with the same 10 seconds rule per target.

[Initializing... Please wait...]

Even though Liam Kai was an elite detective, the intolerable headache was too much for him to understand everything that transpired in front of him.

**Ding!**

[Please choose your codename in the tower!]

An on-screen keyboard appeared on the screen floating above him, encouraging him to play along.

'I have no idea what's going on but that wasn't a fun experience at all,' he inwardly complained before he released exasperated sighs from his agonizing face, eyes throwing daggers at the floating translucent screen.

After a few minutes, the headache eventually subsided.

Thanks to the system's mechanical voice earlier, he somehow grasped the bigger picture of his situation.

Whether it was because of his trained detective personality or something else, he surprisingly played along to the unknown circumstance.

Liam Kai stood up and moved around bit by bit, punching the air and jumping here and there.

He felt as light as a feather and that kind of feeling hadn't happened before, considering that he was one of the healthiest humans alive on Earth.

He shifted his attention to the floating blue translucent screen that was asking for his codename.

In his school years, whenever he played online games, he was using a girl's name to trick other stupid simp players and eventually getting help and valuable items for free so he was seriously thinking about doing it in this game-like afterlife.

He cracked a grin on his face, recollecting about those days as he typed his codename.

Click, click, click...

[Successful!]

[Codename: Ronin]

[Gender: Male]

[ID: A81-69-8411-2-2]

[Temperament: Neutral (unofficial)]

[Player Level: Novice]

[Species: Human (Lesser Species)]

[Cultivation Type: None]

[Cultivation Level: None]

[The Last Floor Cleared: None]

[Class: Agility]

[Affinity: None]

[Innate Battle Trait Type(s): Marksman/Brawler]

[Innate Battle Skill(s): Psychometry, Death Shot, and Ash Phoenix Fist]

[Profession(s): None]

[Profession Skill(s): None]

[Wings: None]

[Tail: None]

[Battle Pet(s): None]

[Mount(s): None]

[Guild: None]

[Health Points: 80]

[HP Regeneration: 2.3 per minute]

[Mana Points: 70]

[MP Regeneration: 3.5 per minute]

[Attack Damage: 13]

[Attack Speed: 9]

[Armor: 6]

[Basic Attack per second: 1 Basic attack per 0.727 seconds]

[Strength: 3]

[Agility: 8]

[Intelligence: 5]

[Available points to distribute: 0]

Liam Kai unconsciously clenched his fists, reading the name of his parents' murderer as his code name.

He would like to be reminded every time of the tragedy that inspired him to be a detective.

Simultaneously, a green health bar appeared below his feet with his basic details like codename and ID on top of it.

[Player: Ronin] [ID: A81-69-8411-2-2]

Liam Kai was taken aback once he saw the health bar under his retina.

Right after...

**Ding!**

[You've received a basic gun]

Grade: F

- One of the starting firearms for a Marksman.

- Limitless ammunition.

- Bullets can travel up to 20 meters.

- Functional in Marksman mode.

[You've received leather gloves]

Grade: F

- A starting weapon for a Brawler.

- Range is as far as the player's reach.

- Functional in Brawler mode.

The leather gloves and a single handgun that appeared like a Colt-45 automatically equipped in hands.

**Ding!**

[Would you like to know more about the tower?]

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