1 Prelude of dark days

"Calm down, breathe and count it again, but this time speak slowly. I can't understand you if you keep talking so fast. You were messing around with your system and screw with something, then your entire sect went after you aiming to kill you, is that it? Are you sure it is because you hacked it? When this happens is mostly because of a married woman, haven't you gone after some elder's woman?"

An old man sitting on the top of a rock in the depths of a cave spoke to a young man who was walking in circles, despite the young man's agitated state, the old man was calm as always, as there aren't many things that could affect the mood of this ancient.

"Yes, I mean no, what are you talking about? of course, I haven't fooled with a married woman. I am sure it is because of the system even my best friend tried to kill me, damn it."

The young man was telling his story to the old man, but he was too agitated to speak, which caused each word to be said quickly and the sentences not connect properly, making his story too difficult to be understood.

"Okay, I will trust you. But now, relax and tell me your story again, but this time say it slowly and don't be stingy with the details."

The young man paused, breathed three times, organized the story in his mind, and started to tell it again from the beginning, but as soon as the first word left his mouth, he started to walk in circles again.

"We were on a mission with almost the entire sect, preparing to enter combat for the sect was under attack, as for me, I was looking for a skill to buy in the shop, something that could help in the battle.

As I said before, my system had a problem that allowed me to buy any skill I wanted for free cost, and there I was, searching for a skill, swiping screens, looking for something overpower when the screen froze. I tried to click on all tabs to see if it would debug, I tried to close and reopen the system, but nothing worked.

Then it changed to a page with chants and diagrams, the cultivation manual, I guess, I tried to click on the screen, but the system was stuck on that page, then a moment later, the screen changed again, this time to a red color before it shut down a few seconds later.

I tried to open the system again, but it wasn't opening. I lost my system, apparently.

I turned to see if my friend Nura had the same problem with his system, when I found everyone with eyes fixed at nowhere, looking at their system, I thought they were also having trouble with their system, so I approached Nura, asking if there was a problem with his system.

He looked at me and said his system was working perfectly fine, but he got a quest to kill me, then he started to walk toward me, a sword appeared in his hand while he rushed to me, launching an attack.

I went to block his slash, but my skills were malfunctioning, but I managed to use it in the end, though it was slow and weak. I blocked his slash, taking a few steps back.

At this point, Luise came yelling, she was saying not to attack me, that it should be a mistake, but he ignored her urge and attacked me again.

Before I realized it, countless people were coming at me with thirsty eyes, so I panicked. I remember Luise telling me they got a quest with a big reward to kill, that I should run, which I did, using everything I had to flee, but they were still coming after me, I had to use my skill to..."

"Enough. I've heard enough." The old man broke the story midway.

The young man paused his circle walk, looking at the old man, and saw his gloomy face, an eerie energy leaking from his body, so intense that the cave started to shake.

"You know why they were chasing me, master? It was because I hacked the system and was buying skills with no cost?"

"No, this must not be the case. You hacking the system is not enough to set a death sentence on you, plus the reason for your expulsion lies in another factor.

I don't know how you hacked your system, since it is deeply attached to your very soul, and even looking at it should already be impossible to do. Someone that tries to take a look would trigger self-destruction function, killing the cultivator on the spot."

"There is something like this? I didn't know such a thing as self-destruction exists. Why does no one warn me about this?"

"Actually, they did, and you even agreed with it. Do you remember when you first awakened your system, and there were a screen 'Users License Terms of Use'? it was all there."

"Oh, I should have read that."

The old man made a gesture to the young one, indicating that he should sit, and the younger obeyed the order, but he was obviously too agitated to sit down.

"Let me ask you, Ryu Sei, do you know what the system is?"

"Of course I do. A system is a technique created, thousand of years ago by Leon Umuk before he ascended, to assist in cultivating, creating a path to make the qi flow according to the manual provided to the system, making the process of cultivating automatic."

"My ass, he created it. Leon Umuk was just one lucky bastard who received the first system as a gift from heaven, but all he knew how to do was cry in the corners, complaining about how unfair the world is, that the sons of rich people had too many resources while he didn't. The truth is that he got the ultimate treasure and was still complaining; he had no talent at all; he created nothing." the old man said, angry.

The young man was surprised to hear this story since it was completely different from what history books tell, and if the old man in his front wasn't his master and someone who lived the same time as Leon Umuk Ryu would call him a crazy liar.

"The truth is that the heavens itself created the system, and just like you said, it works as a visual assistant to facilitated cultivation, making the qi flow automatically in a path determined according to the cultivation manual.

However, the cultivation manual it uses is not a regular cultivation manual, but the manual they use in heaven. They hid this manual deep within the soul and placed death traps so that no one would see it, they gave you the ability to cultivate using their technique, but they don't want you to know the actual cultivation.

When your system crashed, you somehow gained access to the diagrams and chants; in other words, you bypassed their defenses and saw something you shouldn't.

By any chance, do you remember the diagrams and chants?"

"Of course I do." the young man, Ryu Sei, was perplexed with the amount of information he received.

"Master, what can I do? Maybe if you use a technique to erase my memory? They would pardon me." Ryu said, not in his perfect state, for he lost everything dear to him, his friends, and his sect.

"You still don't understand? my silly student, I will clarify it to you then, you stole from heaven, you are a dead man."

Those words provoked an enormous impact on Ryu, making his agitated mental state evolved to absolute despair.

"What do I do now, master?"

"The way I see you only have one option, but before that, I have to tell you another story, it is time for you to know,

what is the truth of the system."