Chapter 3 EREBUS SYSTEM

Carrick floated in darkness, his mind filled with painful memories. He thought about what had happened, and his emotions swirled with regret, anger, and sadness.

He couldn't believe his father was behind it all. But deep down, he knew it might be true. Edgar, the driver, didn't deny it. He said he was just following orders.

Carrick's mind was filled with questions. Why did his father want him dead? Was it because his mother was a mistress? Because he was powerless in the family? Or because his mother used to be a maid?

Carrick felt angry and hurt. He had never fought back against the family's abuse. He had always stayed quiet. So why did they want to kill him?

He screamed into the darkness, "Why!?" His anger grew with every thought.

If only he had been given a chance to live, maybe he could have become a powerful Mafia Lord one day. But now, he was left with only anger and sadness.

«Ding!

Data collection complete!

Fusion successful!

Host's health is currently in a critical state. Injecting revitalization serum!»

Carrick heard a female mechanical voice. He immediately turned around but saw nothing except infinite darkness.

«Ding!

Host's emotions are a mess! Injecting Ever-Calm serum!»

Carrick felt his mind calm as a cool sensation ran over him. He began to rearrange his thoughts, but first thing first, what exactly was that mechanical voice earlier.

«Welcome Host, I am Erebus. Earlier I detected an attempt of brainwashing on the host, thus I made use of the Ever-Calm serum on the host.» the voice spoke again.

"Erebus, huh? Who or what are you?" Carrick asked.

"I am an Artificial Intelligence System, you can think of me as your personal assistant. Needless to say, I am not of this backwater world of yours. I was soaring through the data airspace when I felt a pull to you. I felt your unbridled desire to make a change in your life, thus I am here to help.» the mechanical voice said with a hint of glee in its voice.

"And how will you be able to help me?" Carrick questioned the system. In the past he would have been fretting, but now his mind was as calm as the sea.

«I can grant the Host sets of skills and monetary rewards should the host walk in the path of accomplishing his goal.» the mechanical voice replied.

"Like those Systems in Light Novels that make their protagonist so OP? Hmm, fine. But where exactly I'm I?"

«You are in the void, an airspace between the Living and Purgatory. Host should awaken in ten minutes.» the system replied.

"Alright. Since you said you're a system and I'm the host, can you show me my stats?"

«Ding!

STAT (System for Transfer and Analysis of Tactical data):

Host: Carrick Gale

Age: 18

Status: Comatose

Attributes:

Strength (STR); 10

Intelligence (INT); 25

Agility (AGI); 10

Vitality (VIT); 25

Endurance (END); 25

Charisma (CHA); 15

Combat stats:

Attack power (ATK); 10

Defense (DEF); 10

Health points (HP); 100%

Mana points (MP); 100

Accuracy (ACC); 0

Evasion (EVA); 0

Performance metrics:

Experience points (XP); 0

Level; 1

Skills:

Revitalization (passive, upgradable)

Ever-Calm (passive, non upgradable)

Gold or currency; $0

Kills or deaths; 0 kills, 1 death

Win-loss record; 0

Goal: To be a Mafia Lord.

(System suggests the host will level up ASAP or the host's goal will just be nothing but a pipe dream).»

Carrick was stunned by his stats, he didn't know he was this weak. But when he saw the Mana point and the skills, he got a bit confused.

"Hey system, what's with Mana point? Isn't that part of a game-like stat for mages and spellcasters? Why is it amongst my stat?"

«Host is correct. But in this case, the Mana point helps you to perform certain active skills which you will acquire in time. With the Mana point, you can perform some skills that can enable you to dodge bullets, shoot in a curved manner, read lips and other excellent active skills.»

"That's really cool. What about the two skills there, Revitalization, what does it do and why is it upgradable?"

«Ding!

Revitalization will aid the host to recover from any wound, illness, or poisonous state. Also when upgraded to a certain level, the host can even regrow a severed limb and recover from even a bomb attack. Nevertheless, that will cost lots of Mana points.»

WHAT!?

"Hold on! Are you saying that with the right amount of Mana points and revitalization level, I can be said to be immortal!?"

«You could say that.»

"This is so damn OP, I feel like I'm a protagonist in a light-novel."

«Ding!

Host will awaken in sixty seconds. Host is currently in a facility. System detected traces of attempted brainwash earlier but terminated it by injecting Host with the Ever-Calm serum. System suggests Host to act brainwashed as Host is currently too weak to defend himself against whatever the unknown individuals will do. Again, System urges the Host to find a way to level up quickly, otherwise the host's goal will never be achieved.»

"Huh!? What!?"

«Host to awaken in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1..»

*

"He's coming around!"

"He's regaining consciousness!"

"Quick, get Doctor Ambrose!"

"Get some guards in case he goes berserk!"

Carrick could hear a cacophony of voices as his brain and eyes tried to adjust to the new surroundings. He felt he was laying on a soft bed and wearing a strange helmet on his head, also there was a lot of tubing attached to needles that had been inserted into him.

He didn't know where he was, but he had a feeling this was exactly where the system told him about, and he remembered the system telling him to act brainwashed in order to stay alive.

Sigh!

"Even after being revived and given a second chance in the same world, I'm still weak. It won't be long though."

Soon Carrick heard hurried footsteps, he could tell there were more than ten persons coming. Then he saw a clean shaven middle-aged man in a white medical coat that came and stood near him.

"Welcome back son, from now on, your name is X, and you serve Rambosia."