I am bored, so fucking bored.

I am tired, and wanna go to sleep, but even though I want to, I can’t.

There was complete heavy darkness all around me, like how one might think happens after death.

Obviously, I had died, but I am definitely alive...

My throat is extremely dry, as if I had slept for sixteen hours without drinking water and just woke up.

I am feeling extreme thirst, pain, and sweat covering every part of my body. This shouldn’t be possible in the afterlife, or being in eternal darkness, no?

I can feel my eyelids opening, and closing too. The intense pain in my right arm, and left foot, and again, I am very thirsty. I feel like drinking an empty lake filled with cold water and it still won’t be enough.

But, what the hell was all that? I also tried saying [Status], [System], but nothing appeared.

I can’t move because of my hands, and legs were responsive—

The tight grip on them, as if tied with thick metal chains that went deep inside the bones of my wrists, while also being stretched to the limit. This sent a strong pang of pain in every part of my body, keeping me conscious.

My muscles were trembling with extreme intensity, and few of them were already torn, and twirling painfully against my nerves.

This was absolute hell.

'System, this is not gonna work out. Do you want me to bite my tongue?' I yelled in my mind as my real mouth wasn’t capable of speech right now.

I forced my jaw to slowly open, and took my tongue in between my teeth. 'System Imma actually do it! This is your last warning. Do you want to lose your precious host?' Blackmail always works, no matter what it’s being used against.

Even after a few seconds, there was no reply. I even started to suspect that everything was just a drunk dream, and I am now laying in a ditch with broken bones because of the strip club party that we were planning to go to.

Yes, this has actually happened before.

I sighed, 'Alright, if this is what you want…' I actually bit my tongue, trying for the last time before trying to yell for Pickle, or William to get me out of the ditch.

Cletch!

Suddenly, my eyes widened to the limit.

Salty, sweet, and… delicious liquid filled my mouth. I aggressively sucked all that dripped from my teeth, and poured directly down my throat, from my tongue, relieving some of my thirst.

Only after I felt no blood leaking out, I stopped.

'What the fuck?' This wasn’t a deliberate action, but a purely instinctive one.

And also, a tongue shouldn’t be pierced with such a light bite, I was trying to scare the system. But, this small bite was enough to make my mouth fill with blood. And, the wound also closed almost immediately…

I didn’t even feel pain because of how delicious the blood was, like I was given a giant cup of vanilla ice cream while getting an injection.

A strange premonition rose in my heart as I put two and two together. But, I decided to ignore it as there wasn’t any proof.

After a deep breath, I calmed my racing thoughts, and somehow felt like biting my tongue again. This time, even harder, maybe to get more of that delicious blood, and I needed something to quench my thirst.

But, before I could bite my tongue in half—

[Ding!]

The familiar sound of thousands of giant bells rang deep inside my ear canal.

Finally!

The realization hit me like thunder, “This was all real.”

It wasn’t just a dream.

I actually got a second chance.

My lips slowly curled upwards in a grin as thoughts started to clear.

I gently opened my eyes. And yes, it was there. Red screen with golden borders, surrounded by heavy darkness.

Quickly, white bold text started typing itself on the screen—

[Congratulations to the host for surviving the transmigration process!! There was only a 0.001% chance ;)]

My face lost some colors, but I quickly shook it off. My lips curled upwards slightly as my head rose.

Simply because—

I am the protagonist! Tell me another man surviving at 0.001% chance! Hahaha!

I laughed like an evil mastermind of shadows who had just revealed his identity.

After a whole minute of laughing, I took a deep breath, quickly calming my nerves. 'Be humble. Be humble… until you’re overpowered and rich. Be humble.' I repeated it a few times in my mind.

Immediately, I locked in, and tried to command the system to introduce itself through my thoughts.

The screen glowed, then, a swirling loading animation started playing, evoking my PTSD.

Every time I found a good ‘video’, my internet had to blue ball me.

Fortunately, the screen lit up, a small ‘window’ opening at the right side of the dark red screen.

[Bloodborne Summoning System]

The bold title was at the top center of the right side.

An “=” sign appeared in front of the title as text started to appear word by word ahead of it—

[The system allows the user to in a way ‘level up’.]

Ah, I have played these games before!

But isn’t this too generic? Like, I had more expectations from the name…

[There are many many things that I am capable of, but chose to start with the simplest, as it will be easier for a creature like yourself to understand.]

My fists clenched on their own. 'Did this dog shit just call me a creature!?'

Completely ignoring my feelings, the system typed again—answering my doubts. This time much faster—like an AI chatbot response.

[Stat improvements: Every day, the host will receive a Daily Quest—Every week a Weekly. Completing them will result in the reward of five stat points for daily, and forty for weekly. Also XP depending on the difficulty of the quest.]

My pupils shook a bit, “Will they be the same, the quests, like doing something like pushups, squats, and situps!?” I asked through a trembling mouth.

If I can just keep leveling up in some corner of the world, I can be the strongest in no time!

[No. Each quest is unique and meant to challenge you deeply, and… break you :D]

My eyes dimmed at its last words. But… I guess I did say I wanted a challenge. Can’t complain too much…

The sudden typing sound rang again—

[By the way, these points can be used to improve the stats host wishes freely. Like strength, endurance, etc. The host has full control over his ‘Build’ and the direction he wants to take.]

My breathing became rapid, my lips turning upwards in an erotic expression. That’s what I like to hear. I can be anything, be it a muscular warrior with a giant sword, or an immortal mage with near-infinite mana!

My mind instantly went into the fantasization mode as with a swing of my sword, I split continents as the harem of beautiful women jumped and cheered for me.

But, the loud typewriter sound effect woke me out of it quickly—

[Now, let’s get to the complicated parts of the almighty me. Pay attention!]

“...Sure, sure…” I replied with a half-forced, half-curious smile.

The bottom left side of the red screen glowed as a giant golden tree animated itself to the screen—Branch by branch, each of them spread neatly with golden circles on certain points of branches.

Slowly the circles glowed brighter, one by one, as bold text appeared at the top right side again—

[Echoes: These are the souls of fallen heroes from other worlds who are filled with regrets, and desires. And the souls that desperately want a second chance. (Somewhat like host, but they are not losers, pretty useful even, I would say ;)]

I sighed. 'Why is this thing beefing with me so much!?'

Then my attention went back to the main topic. 'Other worlds…? If they are heroes, even if fallen—They have to be strong right? What if they kill me? Is loyalty guaranteed?'

I had so many questions, but the system answered none. This thing probably wanted me to figure it out when I unlocked one.

But how?

Then, I noticed the small circles closest to the main branch had some kind of number on them—Zero. Echo will probably be unlocked when I reach a hundred at that… 'How to increase it?'

[By earning XP. If the host earns ten XP, it will increase by one percent.]

[Primordial Trials: Think of them as levels, or boss fights. They are the deepest regrets of the echoes, like a kingdom they couldn’t save. A foe they couldn’t defeat. A person who died because of them. Possibilities are endless. You will live as that echo, with the same resources that they had, but, you will need to change the outcome to a positive one, for that echo.]

[Each Trial results in some of the fallen heroes’ abilities recovering, depending on the difficulty of the trial. But the best part is, the host will get 5x the rewards—in this case, power. The echoes will recover.]

My body instinctively leaned forward. This clearly meant they didn’t have any of their powers when they were summoned.

So basically, regret-filled emos I can learn the weaknesses of through trials, and manipulate, then also gain their powers? Sounds just perfect.

But, how hard are these trials?

[Once entered, the host cannot leave without completing the task. The host will be able to make checkpoints, and ‘respawn’ even if dead, and can retry infinitely until success, or… be trapped in the trial forever. Also, you will feel the same emotions and possess some of the echoes’ memories.]

……Their regrets won’t be as simple as not confessing to someone, or not working hard enough.

Fuu… haa!

I took a deep breath, trying to hold my racing heart.

I need to level up. Fast. Only then I can even ever think of entering it…

My thoughts spiraled down, stuck in a giant war with the demon king, watching everything I cared about, as that echo die, over and over again—failing, failing, failing, then barely succeeding, only to go through an even harder version of it again.

'No, no, I can’t think like this!'

Light started to return to my pupils.

Even though my surroundings smelt like piss, blood, shit and vomit, I took a deep breath.

The air was real, the stench was disgusting, the heavy, suffocating feeling in my lungs was real, the thirst was real.

Now, in this world, I finally had a chance. A chance that I never got in the past life. I can’t waste it just because of something irrational like fear.

I promised I will do whatever is required to live my dream life.

My face hardened, 'I am done living for the future, hopes of the situation getting better, eventually it all figuring itself out….. Now my actions will decide my future, so what if I ‘failed’ in one of the trials or even here. It’s all in the future, and hasn’t happened yet.'

'I don’t care about the negative possibility. I genuinely don’t. Because, what if it all actually worked out. I got stronger? I understood these people and earned their trust? Then, eventually became so important that my existence won’t just be insignificant?'

'If this happened… I will be the hope of my future. Not God, not dreams, not people, not hope…. I—'

'I will be the fate. God. Luck.'

'And there will be not a single person who will be able to tell me otherwise.'

My jaw tightened. I didn’t feel the pain any longer. The smell didn’t feel as suffocating. The dryness in my throat was still there, but it didn’t control me anymore.

The fear of the unknown too, vanished.

The only thing that was left in my mind was…… Excitement.

Being edgy always helped me with dread.

'Status open!'

I shouted in my mind, feeling an urge to check it.

Then, without wasting any time, a loading animation appeared on the center part of the red screen.

Suddenly, after just a second, the loading froze. And instantly, the light dimmed, revealing an entirely new interface that looked like an RPG stat description.