In a private room in the huge domain of Yan, a head laid undisturbed. And upon the makeshift grave of a bloodied floor, the words that were painted in crimson said, Yabi Tarin Si Riso Yev Rachi Gu!
This was the good omen left behind the League of Shadow Assassins. It was their trademark. Which in the native tongue of this xianxia world means, Death Comes To Those Who Seek It!
* * *
"It is done, master." A faceless voice in the dim lighted room reported.
"Very good, Tan Zan! Continue on doing your job well. Earn some more experience for me." Clark commanded easily and a telling smile showed that he was quite happy with his summon's performance.
"I will etch your words in my heart, master. I will not fail you!" Tan Zan left with these and it only brought further satisfaction unto our good gamer.
"Should I at least add a couple of points in Create Skeleton and Corpse Reincarnation skills?" Clark wondered as to how he would spend his future skill points.
"Hmmm... Maybe I'll upgrade them better so that they'll at least retain a hundred percent of their past strengths. I think that that would do well for me in the end!" Clark decided.
"Now all I need to do is stay still and wait for the time when my enemies would come to me."
12 minutes later and...
"Congratulations, host. You have gained a new level. Please visit the system menu for further details." Nancy announced with her usual lovely voice.
Clark has another level up and it was at this time finally that he could not anymore hold his boredom in.
"Nancy..." Clark growled the words out. He felt the whispers of the demons inside him take a toll on his patience once again.
A few deep breaths later and Clark managed to deny the onslaught of yet another memorable lesson for having a bad temper around in tow.
"What is it, host?" Nancy asked in that sweet familiar voice of hers.
"Do you have any free available games in there, Nancy? I'm getting my brains fried with boredom already!" Clark grumbled because of the extreme monotony of his wait.
Singing and whistling was good the first few times but to spend more than a day doing that over and over again made Clark already wanting to scratch his beard out of sheer dullness.
"The system is nigh omnipotent, host. You just have to say anything you want done and it will offer you all the comforts and necessities that you could only ever dream of existing."
Nancy sounded hurt and was perhaps bragging about the system's abilities to save its wounded ego. But there was nothing wrong for Clark to test the veracity of this statement on his own.
"Really? Then do you have the Witcher 4 in your database?" Clark asked in a playful mocking tone.
"Affirmative, host. We even have an installment of that video game up to Witcher 10 in the system." Nancy answered positively.
"HAHAHA! Nice! Nice! Would you be so kind as to let me play that game, Nancy? You would have my eternal gratitude should you let me experience the next episode of my favorite game."
Clark sat up on the bed as he felt his excitement flood his veins.
The gamer inside him was very much awake right now and although Lu Chen's personality had quite diluted Clark's own through his additional wants and obsessions but Clark would never ever forget who he truly was.
Other than being an absolute otaku, he was also a prodigy in the gaming world and more.
"The system could not accept your gratitude no matter how sincere it may be, host. It wants something of real value in order to properly exercise the equal exchange principle towards both parties."
Nancy apologized with much subtlety.
'Yes, indeed. A simple translation would be that you need more of my spirit stones again.'
'SIGH!' Clark moaned inside.
"How much would it cost me this time?" he asked after sighing for the umpteenth instance.
"Only the minimum price in the system shop, host." Nancy replied in a voice full of humor.
If Clark did not know any better then he could fully imagine that his woman was not just merely a system spirit or even an A.I. at that but a truly functioning living human being.
But then again, Clark would not have it any other way. Especially now that he was already pretty used to Nancy's pleasing oddities.
"Minimum price, huh?" Clark remembered well enough that the cheapest items on the system shop were priced at 100 shop points and not one shop point less.
Since he still had 150 in hand and he had yet to convert the spirit stones he gathered from the entirety of his conquest in the whole city of Cresa, Clark chose to spend his available shop points without any second thoughts.
"Sure! I want to purchase that game, Nancy. Give me some Witcher fun once more!" Clark announced cheerfully.
"Affirmative, host." Nancy responded and without another warning, Clark saw that his shop points had already dwindled to a depressing 50.
"Nah... it's just 100 shop points lost. I'll get more of them later!" Clark promised and opened up the new column that had materialized form his character sheet also.
* * *
Games
* * *
With one click on the screen, Clark was transported into a whole fresh game immersion that could only be found in his dreams before.
More than that, what caught his attention quickly was how there was not only the Witcher series that came into the selection the moment he opened the Games Column.
Diablo
Final Fantasy
Elder Scrolls
.
..
...
And the list just went on and on. From the most popular ones to the most playable picks like the Angry Birds and Plants Versus Zombies, as long as it was ever created in man's timeline, the system had its awesome upgrades also on those said titles.
It did not take long for Clark to notice that included within each collection was the installation of the games that could only be seen and played many years into the future.
"Wow! You really are powerful, Nancy! I never doubted you for even one second!" Clark knew when to kick and kiss ass but luckily, the system was already immune to his antics.
Nancy remained quiet but a barely discernible hmmmp could be heard if one was attentive enough. Alas, that was a trait that Clark was already very much not.
"Hello there, Geralt of Rivia. So we meet again." Clark grinned like a fool as he laid down on the bed once more and then entered the game without any other word spoken.
There were hints and unsubstantiated news before that the new Witcher series at 4 would no longer include one of the greatest game protagonists to ever live.
'I'm glad that the game developers decided wisely in the end.' Clark smiled as he plunged into a game that was much different from anything he had experienced before.
This was a true perfect virtual reality environment and Clark was the first person to taste how lovely and amazingly excellent the future would hold in the video gaming industry.
The games inside the system's database were leagues better to that of Earth.
10 minutes later...
"Congratulations, host. You have gained a new level. Please visit the system menu for further details." Nancy announced with her usual lovely voice.
However, Clark's mind was in a whole different universe at the moment.
"Damn! Cultivating may be a drug to most people in this world but gaming offers an entirely different enjoyment to my soul. I would definitely choose this thing over anything else in life!"
Clark relished the astonishing game play of Witcher 4 as he embodied Geralt within his psyche.
He roamed and killed monsters, even completed quests but in reality he was just on his lonesome. Eyes closed and resting calmly.
"Let me play some more then!" Clark finally broke the absurdity of his situation with much needed R and R.
He was also too lazy to kill monsters for himself in real life and even gain exp at that because he already had a bunch of thousands of undead army to do exactly that deed for him.
It would be stupid to risk his neck out there in the wild and perhaps even met a dangerous character from out of the blue.
"I would not doubt at all that if i go out once more, even just one time, that there would be an instant addition also to the set of enemies that is after my head.
Those arrogant young masters are all over this xianxia world after all. It is filled with them in fact! Not that they would succeed but who knows if i get to meet somebody way more powerful than i am.
So nah... traveling is good and all but i think i'll pass on that for now and get comfy in my little piece of heaven and hole in here.
Especially now that I have an endless parade of video games to take care of my cravings, I could stay here indefinitely. For years if need be and never ever go out at all."
Clark laughed as he finalized everything in his mind. It would have been good and dandy if everything stopped right then and there.
Alas, another's wish that was entirely not him resurfaced once more into the canvas.
"Ning Xi!"
"Tang Xinyue!" The otherworldly impulse revealed its feeling on the matter and this one was both filled with love and lust on the two women it conjured out of nowhere.
"Well, shit!" Clark almost died from a Cockatrice talon strike because of this unexpected desire deep within his soul.
"This perverted old man is hopeless! I must not let this kind of twisted way of thinking shake my dao heart! NEVER!" Clark gritted his teeth but in the next instant, he could not help but say...
"Okay. Ning Xi and Tang Xinyue it is." Clark sighed in surrender. How difficult was it to fight oneself? Our bored gamer knew the answer to that particular question in spades.
He did not even think that fighting this specific war was healthy to begin with. And so with a heavy heart, Clark could only accept the reality of his predicament.�
* * *
"Haran."
"We have arrived, boss!"