How To Be A System (Dummy-Proof Edition)

Prologue. Once Upon A Time There Is A System

When I opened my eyes, what greeted me is a complete darkness. Trying to move my limbs, I am shocked by the response I received.

Instead of the usual feeling of moving my limbs, what I received is the feeling of floating without any tangible body at all.

Don’t ask me how I know the feeling of floating without a tangible body. Anyway, I just know about it.

While trying to comprehend the new way to move my body. My memory slowly returned.

The last thing I could remember before entering this darkness is when I was lazing around in my living room, eating snacks while watching TV on my sofa. When suddenly a massive explosion sounded and I arrived here.

Returning from my memory, I can't help but unconsciously utter some words. Or at least I thought I uttered it. Not having a body is a novel experience for me, after all. “What the? Did I die? Am I going to reincarnate or transmigrate? If so, where am I right now, then?”

After a brief series of incoherent screaming and experiencing several mental roller coasters, I began fumbling around for some time, attempting to slowly explore the darkness using my new immaterial body.

Soon, I received several additional memories of something akin to a ‘Skills’.

Although those memories are a bit confusing, using my experience as a novel junkie, I approximately understood how those skills work. And so, I separated those skills into seven categories.

[Storage] skill allow me to store information and energies that could be used. I can also create a space with some special characteristics using it.

[Transfer] skill seems related to space and information and might allow me to send items or information from one place to another.

[Calculate] skill as the name implies, allows me to calculate a lot of data.

[Absorb] could absorb things and transform them into energies. It cannot absorb something with a strong will to resist, though.

[Scan] could scan something and store the information in [Storage]. The smaller the range, the more detailed the information obtained.

[Create] Allows me to create something using energies. The more I understand something, the cheaper it will be to create.

And lastly, [Anchor] is used to anchor someone or something to me. I can also lend my skills to things anchored to me. And from what I can sense, the skill seems to be activated as I can feel something anchored to me. But that feeling is a bit blurry.

Those are the skills I got from the memories. If the memories don't lie, those skills can be upgraded by spending some energy.

After digesting that information, I tried to use the [Create] skill to make light or something. But the energies required to do it are enormous, as it seems I have no exact understanding of ‘light’ or perhaps caused by other reason.

And so I tried to use the [Scan] skill, in hope of understanding what the darkness surrounding me is.

The result from [Scan] surprised me, as the answer I get is that I am currently located in somewhere called consciousness space. Or at least that is the approximate translation, because the result from [Scan] just choose the most appropriate word according to my knowledge.

Next, I tried to play around with the [Storage] skills to look at memories from my previous life. I also tried to make some storage space using some energy, which is a success.

Hoping for that space to contain anything else except for pure darkness like my surrounding, I placed my attention on the interior of that space.

Once I saw the inside of that space, disappointment welled up inside me, as it is also a complete nothingness without anything at all. Exactly the same as the consciousness space I am in right now.

I even used [Scan] on that space several times to make sure if there was anything hidden. Except for informing me that space is 1 cubic meter in size, not affected by time, only capable of holding inanimate objects. [Scan] also told me there is nothing at all inside.

Without anything else to do, I tried to waste time by re-reading the novels from my past life stored in [Storage], but having good memories and knowing exactly how the plot progressed seems to be a disadvantage, as I couldn’t find myself enjoying them.

Pushed into a corner, I just stared at the darkness while reviewing the skill I got. But the longer I see those cheat-like skills, the angrier I get. After all, I am still stuck in this utterly rubbish consciousness space filled with complete darkness!!

I already got the cheat skill, so when am I going to get transmigrated, reincarnated, or whatever?! Where are the promised adventures?! My journey to slap the face of others?! Anyway, just let me out of this place!!

“Arggggggalwkrghwuwjsbwgusoekwbdguwowbwsgu” Trying to decrease my depression, I keep on screaming nonsensical word for who knows how long.

After screaming for a long time, I turned silent and calmed down my emotion.

Using the [Calculate] skill I recently get, I tried to look for clues that may help me to leave this consciousness space.

That is when the darkness in front of me slowly blurred and I finally feel something new as the familiar feeling of having a body returned to me.

But, there is a minor problem.

I can't control this body and there is some kind of membrane separating my sense with it.

To say it in a comprehensible term, it is similar to the feeling of watching a film using ultra-realistic VR or at least that is how I think an ultra-realistic VR would feel. To be more specific, it is a VR movie where you can feel what the main character from those movies sensed.

While thinking about that whole VR movie nonsense, the ‘I’ finally opened ‘my’ eyes. What comes into ‘my’ eyes is a wooden room with stone tiles and a dressing table standing near the corner of my vision. After staring into the surrounding, a confused voice sounded from ‘me’. “An unfamiliar room. Where am I? Was I kidnapped?”

Shocked by the word that comes from ‘myself’ without my command, I subconsciously thought about leaving this body.

When that thought come into my mind, I feel myself returning to the empty dark space called the consciousness space. But this time, there is a difference compared to before I entered that body. The difference comes from [Anchor] skill as now I could pinpoint that the one connected to my consciousness through [Anchor] is the owner of that body I previously entered.

Well, what a sad realization. I thought I have finally left that dark space.

Focusing my attention toward the body connected by [Anchor], I feel the surrounding darkness change into the view of that room I previously saw.

The owner of that body seems to just woke up from his bed, as slowly the view moved toward the dressing table. Looking into the bronze mirror, an unfamiliar person comes into my sight.

The mirror reflected a bruised teenage boy with shoulder-length hair wearing a complicated ancient Chinese clothing.

from the mirror, that boy touched his face in disbelief as he muttered something. “Did I transmigrate?”

Hearing that word, I feel like cursing someone. Why am I stuck in this darkness while others can easily transmigrate to another and have an adventure and whatnot. If this guy actually got a cheat, then my patience might sna- WAIT A MINUTE!!!

Once the thought about cheat arrived at my mind, a sudden realization struck me. Those amazing skill sets I have, this feeling of connecting my existence into another body while being unable to control the body, and someone who just transmigrated into said body. Furthermore, there is that description of [Anchor] that says I can lend my skill to things anchored to me.

DID I TURN INTO THE CHEAT?!

Calming myself from the shock brought by that inference, I slowly tried to regain my composure. Once I calmed down, I immediately entered serious mode and started to experiment with my skills.

First, I tried to use [Scan] through that boy which is connected to me by [Anchor]. Which actually worked and makes me a bit relieved, that means I could still affect the world even though I am stuck in this consciousness space.

Next, I started reading the result stored in [Storage]. When I used it previously, [Scan] detected many things like light, air, heat, etc. The information [Scan] give differs from what normal eyes receive, as it even includes its atomic composition and whatnot.

But that is not important. Currently, my attention is focused on an interesting information, [Scan] actually detected two souls in this transmigrator’s body.

After a brief thought, I speculated the additional souls may either be related to me or come from the original owner of this body. And so, I spent some energy and upgraded [Scan] to let me scan memories in a soul. The price hurt me as I feel half of the energies in [Storage] disappear.

After purchasing that upgrade, I immediately focused [Scan] on the additional soul I sensed.

What comes from the scan is a new memory entirely different from mine. It shows a memory of someone which is most likely the original body’s soul as I saw the same body previously seen in the bronze mirror inside a water reflection in the memories.

Meanwhile, it seems that the transmigrator has also slowly returned from his shock of being transmigrated to another person’s body. After listening to that transmigrator’s internal thought, which I could hear due to [Anchor]. I have concluded; it seems this transmigrator doesn’t have any memory of the original body.

With my 10 years of experience reading transmigration novels, of course I understood the importance of the original body’s memories for a transmigrator.

As I don’t want this guy to die early, I decided to send the memories gained from the original body’s soul to that transmigrator using [Transfer]’s ability to send information, which cost me yet another chunk of energy.

Because the feeling from [Anchor] only came from this guy. If he somehow died, I am afraid I might truly get imprisoned in that consciousness space forever without any chance to escape. Just the thought of spending eternity in nothingness makes me shudder.

While waiting for that transmigrator to digest the information, I continued to watch the memories gained by scanning that soul. At a certain point, I finally know the world that transmigrator located in differs from my original world. Because, based on the original body’s memories, there are people capable of smashing boulders and doing long-range gliding without using any equipment.

After watching the memories until the end, I continued to crazily use [Scan] on everything within my surroundings to increase the information stored in [Storage]. Then, using the scanned information about light and the limited knowledge about soul that I have obtained from [Scan]. I started to tinker with my skills, trying to create a personalized illusory screen for that transmigrator and begin my debut as a cheat.

After some time passed and wasting some energy to make that screen, that transmigrator finally woke up from his daze as he finished watching the memories. He seems to be a bit stupefied, as I could hear him muttering about some nonsense repeatedly.

Anyway, that thing is not important.

While hoping for my novel reading experience to not let me down. I used [Transfer] and sent the screen I have just crafted into this confused transmigrator.

[Ding! Host detected. Do you wish to bind the World Devouring System?]

“What?”

Without waiting for him to digest the information, I continued to send another message using the screen.

[Detected the host has responded. The World Devouring System has been bound!]