The system

In an old worn-down castle, in a room on the second story, by a window, a small young 15 year old boy with golden blonde hair could be seen gazing outside with excitement deep within his eyes and a joyful smile that seemed to lift the mood of the old castle. The young boy came running out of his room and halted his pace, walking slowly behind two male servants. It was a beautiful sunny day for the few, those with shelter of course, the ones without could only complain under their breath.

"Sir Ric attending the academy?! With his miniscule mana alone, he'd get bullied around over there, adding on to the fact that still hasn't been able to make contact with his summoning is crazy, I haven't heard of a person that hasn't been able to contact their own summon ever!" exclaimed quietly by the servant on the left.

The servant on the right smiled as he spoke "Don't even bother, back then Sir Ric has always been behind the children, especially Master Gil, heck even common kids were stronger than Sir Ric, the Miss and Master are probably just sending him to make him learn of how much different he is from those talented people studying in the academy, I bet you after a year he'll come running back with his tails between his legs"

The servant on the left sighed helplessly

"No doubt about it, with all those geniuses appearing everywhere he's gonna get his ass kicked with that mana of his, it's just unfortunate that someone of his status would awaken such weak mana"

No longer being able to take it anymore, Ric interrupted their chat:

"You guys.. I don't need any of your pity! I'll make contact with my summon and when I do I'll make you eat your own words, I'm not different.. I'll work so hard and become a famous adventurer!" Ric's brittle voice resonated within the hall.

Startled by Ric and afraid that they may lose their job, the two servant hurried away, leaving Ric by himself inside the hall.

Ric clenched his fists, his expression furious and tears began to form within his eyes, he wiped away his tears quickly before anyone could see. Continuing to the door, he opened it and he was greeted by the sight of his parents and grandparents, one military chopper to escort him on his destination at the academy located west of the kingdom of Feohtere.

Ric's mother, Alice, a beautiful woman with ash blonder hair stepped infront of him, hugging him as tight as she can:

"When you arrive in Feohtere, your cousin Sam take care of you so you behave alright? And you keep out of trouble, you do what Sam says and when you can't take it anymore, you come bck to me and your father.. your family. Make sure you be careful out there my beautiful boy, I love you always"

A rough hand held Ric by the shoulder, Dane, his stepfather, who he considered his true father since he was young stared at him seriously:

"Listen son.. don't get anyone pregna- OW! It's the truth though honey.. anyways you'll meet different people in the academy, creating friendships that would last forever and rivalries to push you forward, just remember that in the end you will set on a path away from them.. alone, and when you do you face it head on. The only way to win is to move forward son.. you stand by that and you will win no matter what circumstances.."

With a profound look, Ric responded "Don't you guys worry about me, the day I come back here I would have already become a high ranking adventurer with my own guild, believe it or not.. it will happen and when it does I'll make our business alive again!"

Glad with the words of Ric, Dane patted his shoulder a few times before backing away, tears formed in his mother's eyes, both from joy seeing her son all grown up and sadness from parting away from him. Ric finally bid his last farewell to his parents and his grandparents, who spoiled him since he was but a child, and with that, Ric boarded the chopper along with three massive guards wearing half silver armor to protect him with his travel.

As the chopper slowly left the ground, Ric waved off his hands with a sadness in his eyes, hardening his resolve the sadness slowly turned into expectation. The destination heading for the kingdom of Feohtere, one of the five great dynasties in the entirety of the world would normally be around 3 days away but since they were travelling above ground it would only take about 18 hours give or take, that is of course without any complications..

Ric stared outside the window, gazing at the world from above, there he could see old abandoned buildings with vines covering them and in the other direction he could make out a slight mountain of sand, a vast expense of green fields, this was the new earth, a slightly apocalyptic one.. without zombies that is, well the undead is not a suprise anyways, afterall this world houses different creatures within it.

As Ric continued watching the scenery outside, one of the guards with dark-brown hair remarked with a kind smile

"Why don't you take a nap my lord? The journey ahead is long so it would be wise to save your energy, especially when you arrive at the kingdom, surely you wouldn't like to arrive just to rest again would you not.. my lord?"

The two other guards had a weird expression worn on their face, probably from what the usually quiet one from them spoke suddenly. Thinking about what he was told, Ric ultimately decided to take a short rest, his mind slowly drifting to sleep and shortly after his steady breathing resounded..

...The sound of horrible screams pleading for help reached Ric's ears, opening his eyes.. Ric was greeted by a horrible sight, a bunch of human people were naked, chained that was held by humanoid figures that had horns out of its forehead, dark red wings, and they carried sharp weapons with them. The scene has hellish, in a sense maybe it was, dark broken castles, fire and volcanoes, the sun eclipsed the red sky and clouds created by smokes from the ground...

...Ric could see seven thrones made from skulls of the dead with bright red blood gushing out from the eyes like a waterfall, their heights reached the clouds and Ric could perceive figures that were made out of shadows on each sit. One shadow leaped from its place and landed infront of Ric, it spoke in a foreign tongue as if demanding something from him, sounding gibberish and quick, its voice so hoarse it would send chills down your spine...

...Ric failed to understand anything what was happening, it seemed to him as if time flowed quick yet sluggish, his small body trembled upon the shadow that seemed to peer at his soul, fear enveloped his heart.. his eyes watering, and his legs felt weak. At that moment, he experienced true fear.. true weakness for the first time, he tried talking and yet his voiced failed to produce even the slightest sound...

...After awhile, the shadow stopped from speaking, as if it understood that Ric could not understand its languange. The shadow raised its left hand and creepily caressed Ric's face, it lowered its head and stopped by his ear and as if time started to pause, no sound except Ric's rapid heartbeat was heard, the shadow screeched with its hoarse voice:

"Awaken!!!"...

And after what appeared to be the longest and yet the shortest time, Ric opened his eyes with his head facing the floor, his heartbeat remaining chaotic, tears streamed down his cheeks and fell to the floor of the chopper..

"A dream.. it was all a dream.. I'm safe, there's no danger here Ric.. " Ric whispered comfortingly to himself. He finally raised his head to check in on his travel, and what greeted him was a dreadful sight of blood and gore, the brown haired guard welcomed him with a sinister smile, his faced dyed with blood, the two other guards had their lifeless heads on their laps'. Yet again that feeling of fear crept its way up inside Ric but at this moment he could somewhat fight the feeling of fear, ..somehow it paled in comparison to that feeling of fear within his dream.

After a few minutes of trying to calm himself down.. in which he almost succeeded in doing so, he noticed that the pilots were still alive, wondering if they were apart of this or were just being forced, he eventually gathered the courage to speak:

"What's the meaning of this?.." He asked calmly with a deadpan expression.

"Is it not obvious my lord? Your family pissed off the wrong people and well forgive me for saying this, but since you are the weakest point.. you'll make well as leverage don't you think? Your family would kill to have you back and you and I both know that they won't have second thoughts in doing so.." The guard replied with obvious mockery in his voice.

Ric no longer decided to retort, instead he observed his surroundings.. looking for a chance to escape yet they were high above the ground and unless they landed there was no chance for him to even run away, if he was just a little bit stronger then maybe he could survive jumping but even then where would he go.. he didn't even think about fighting against the guard, the two guards were definitely stronger than he was and if they lost against the same guard.. he would undoubtedly die.

"What? Trying to plan your escape my lord? What a nice thought.. unfortunately you don't have the ability to do so.. if only you had awaken a summon something powerful like your older brother didn't you.." The guard interrupted Rics' thoughts musingly, Ric remained ever quiet, he really didn't have anything to say.. perhaps it was fear or his weak will, but Ric didn't know that things were about to take a turn for the better...

[ The sin system ...rebooting...]

A blue transparent digital screen appeared before his very eyes and a mechanical voice spoke out.

[ ..5% ..12% ..25% ..75%.. 99%]

[ ..100%.. Sin system online]

[ Welcome host, this is your own personal artificial system, it is my pleasure to be able serve you. Would you like to start?]

Dazed by what he was experiencing, Ric questioned if he was hallucinating from fear.. and he was proven wrong by the [No] answer of the thing he was seeing.. and hearing? perhaps he wasn't the only one to experience this he thought, quickly dismissing the idea after observing the face and body language of the remaining guard and two other pilots. Then perhaps maybe he should take this seriously then? From his experience earlier it seemed that this peculiar thing was able to read his mind, so would it be possible to converse mentally he wondered..

[ Yes host, conversing mentally or verbally are both an option ]

'Then what are you.. and what do I even do with you?..'

[ It is simple host, I am a weapon. You may use me however you like, do you want to grow stronger? I can help you, perhaps you want to fight? I can help you.. or maybe you want to protect those around you.. maybe punish the evil? I can do everything and I will do everything to assist you host]

'Alright then.. who created you? and why choose me as a host?' Second by second, Ric grew more curious about the system, he had a thousand questions but for now he was content with the most important ones'.

[ ERROR.. ERROR.. Answer unknown..]

'I guess your creator doesn't want some stuff known huh system? Alright then, whether you're a gift from above or down below doesn't matter.. you told me you can do everything right?' Numerous thoughts entered his mind but he was more excited with the idea of getting stronger and stronger and stronger...

[ Yes host, would you like to start?]

[ Yes or No]

'Is that even a question.. I'm not really clear with what's happening right now.. but I'm betting on this so yes.. hell fucking Yes!!!'

Ric answered with uncertainty yet confidence, he didn't know it his own mind is just playing tricks on him or this was real but either way he would end up in the same position if he doesn't try.. dead.

[ Starting system battle feature.. ]