“Where’s it?”
[It? Do you mean her? Well, she’s being punished… But she’ll return… And since she was the one to summon you here, she can continue doing whatever she wants as long as it’s within the overseer’s protocol after her punishment has been seen through…]“But you said that it- I mean she broke protocol… Why is she allowed back? She did get demoted right?”
[Yes but sadly, the protocol allows for humans to die. You see, humans in Limbo need to prove to us that they’re still willing to live on. Even if it means living in this world and possibly never going back to their world.]‘Damn, my life sucks… I’m still stuck in here, and this time I can’t return for a while… Worst of all, “she” is coming back and will probably want to enact some kind of revenge on me…’
[Ah, her 1000 years of punishment have finally passed…]“Wait, what? I thought you could only slow the rate of time?”
[Well yes, I’ve sent her to a dimension where time runs extremely slow. Just a few hours in there will feel like centuries.] [You may experience a mild personality change Zane. I’m sure she hasn’t completed your emotion algorithm yet… It’s hard to explain but you probably won’t feel any emotions. Well it all depends on her fixing her own universe. You may experience some emotions like sadness but then again, I don’t know how far she’s developed her universe… With that said, it’s time for you to go back.] [Begone, player Zane.]‘I’m dead! I’m dead, dead, DEAD! She’ll be pissed at me for causing all of this! I’m innocent but I’m sure that she’ll punish me even harder!’
‘Since when do systems have voices? And to make matters worse… since when are they so high pitched? Yes, I’m talking about her… That moderator that almost got me killed countless times and is now ready to punish me even more! And that good for nothing Administrator sent me back to her! Oh, what a dreamlike universe he had… Why wasn’t I summoned to that universe? Why wasn’t he the system? I’d probably get tons of equipment and I’d be instantly transported back to reality if something bad happened in the game world.’
Looking at his beloved system, Zane sighed and returned his gaze towards the floor – the same black void that he’d left.
‘Oh, you guys, I’ve missed you!’
A few blue binary numbers starting collecting themselves around Zane’s hand, slowly forming a display with a ton of extra features that he’d never seen before.
‘Excuse me? I thought these binary numbers did nothing but float around my head… And now they materialize a display? How kind! Anyway, the display’s menu seems to have gotten an upgrade.’
[Quests] [Level 1: 0/1000xp] [Inventory] [Shop] [Quit]‘Quests, well no surprise there but damn, look at that. We now have LEVELS! And I finally have an inventory button! An actual button that I can click instead of shouting inventory until my voice becomes hoarse. Moreover, I like this shop button! Can I finally sell gear? Thinking about it, I never had the chance to stock up on loot since I would only steal weapons before being brought back. Even then I wasn’t sure if my inventory would allow me to keep them – I was only allowed to keep their equipment. Oh, how I’d love to sell hiveling eggs to the hungry masses! Those damn insects… I will never forgive them for what they did to me…’
[Oh, so you’re back? Didn’t I… Kill you?]“Well… I guess that I’m still alive, in a way…”
[Well, I don’t care, I’ve just been thinking whilst being imprisoned for a reasonable amount of time…]“Thinking? What are you talking about?”
[Your display menu got an upgrade, didn’t it?]“Yeah… About that? HOLY F*** THANKS!”
[Don’t thank me just yet, and why are you so happy about me being back? I took my sweet time to come up with an even better plan on how to kill you.]“You really like killing huh…”
[Yes I really like it, especially if my prey was the reason for me being locked up for aeons in a small box with nothing to do but think and program.]“So you sat there for aeons?”
[Yes?]“And you only made these small changes during that time?”
[…]“Did I say something wrong?”
[Well, this menu is my gift to you. Like I said, I don’t want my prey to die easily; I want them to fight to the bitter end…]“Pffhuh..”
[Don’t you “Pffhuh..” me just yet, I have made a new quest for you, and you probably won’t be able to complete it.]“So I’ll die in the end? BORING! Just kill me already if there’s no way out for me…”
[No, you’ll have a chance. According to my calculations, your chance of survival is a healthy 0.5%. Thank me later.]‘0.5% means that I’ll die… But! I kinda cheated my way here, didn’t I? I was supposed to be dead, yet I got back into this mess because of some glitch with my brain? I’m probably in a mental hospital right now, banging my head against the wall whilst talking about an imaginary system.’
—
*BANG*
“Zane! Oh no, he’s talking to his system again, damn… Increase his dose of meds tonight.”
*BANG*
“ZANE!”
“But Sysssss!! I need 50 more experience points for level 50000, please!!! Syyyysss!”
“…”
—
‘Welp, thinking about it, I would rather be brain dead than living a life like that… then again, I don’t consider this to be any better. Living in a fever dream with a nagging system that is apparently female – yes I know, I have no f****** way of explaining that part…’
[Here it is, my little dungeon. This dungeon is about 69 levels tall, has countless of overpowered monsters, NPCs and whatnot… Your inventory has been wiped clean so you can’t rely on your bronze sword or health potions. Fret not, for I will give you this starter pack instead.] [Alert: 5 new items have been added to your inventory] [Item ‘All your hopes and dreams’] [Item ‘A broken useless wooden sword’] [Item ‘A piece of rotten meat’] [Item ‘A glass filled with a shady-looking substance’] [Item ‘A Hiveling’s Egg’]
