Ian felt his head pounding as if being hammered.
Last time he felt this was when he drank till he blacked out.
"Are you okay?"
A worried feminine voice stirred Ian awake.
Slowly, he struggled to open his eyes.
"Alice." Ian breathed out when he saw Alice sitting by the couch, looming over him. There also appeared to be some texts on her face.
"What happened suddenly? You scared the fuck out of me!" Alice's tears appeared to be dried already, while there was a tinge of worry in her eyes.
"Uh…" Ian tried to remember what happened before he passed out all of a sudden.
A white burst of light had assaulted his eyes and he had heard a weird monotonous– robotic voice along with a nasty headache.
That was all he remembered before he was knocked out.
Ian groaned and rubbed his eyes, but the strange hologram in front of his eyes still didn't vanish.
[ The Assistance System has been awakened by your strong will. ]
"Alice, can you see something here?" Ian pointed at the floating text.
"Where?"
"I am literally pointing at it."
"There's nothing there! Did you hit your head hard?" Alice thought in horror, "Shit! Is it because of my slap? Am I that strong?!"
Ian ignored her.
'She can't see it. But it's definitely there, I can feel it.' Ian thought, 'Or maybe I actually went insane. That's a possibility.'
Struggling to get back to his feet, Ian kept his hand on Alice's shoulder and used it to support himself up.
"You could have asked for my help, rather than risk my shoulder getting dislocated." Alice grumbled, rubbing her shoulder due to Ian's superior weight.
"I thought you were strong." Ian mocked casually, but his whole focus was still on the floating text.
No matter how he turned his head, the text followed his movement and always appeared in front of his eyes.
'Okay? The assistance system is awakened by my will. What about it?' he thought mildly irritated.
"I am sorry about my breakdown." Alice stood up and said to Ian.
"Sorry about the slap." Ian nodded.
"Well if you want to keep being a bitch about it, then be. I am going to sleep." Alice figured Ian wasn't interested in talking so she kindly excused herself back to her room.
And Ian didn't take any action to stop her from doing so.
'Now, what is this?'
When he heard the click of Alice's door, Ian sat back on the couch, wondering.
He remembered the light had come from his right hand, where he wore the ring, so he tried twisting and moving it around.
Nothing happened.
Ian then pulled the ring off his finger and kept it aside on the couch.
The moment he stopped touching it, the floating text vanished.
'So it IS related to the ring.'
Ian grabbed the ring again, and the text returned, without a change.
"The Assistance System." he mumbled.
[ The Assistance System will help the host in achieving their goals. ]
The text in the air warped into a new sentence.
'My goals, huh?'
"Goals."
[ Host: Ian Maxwell.
Current Goal: Becoming self-independent and proving himself. ]
'So it's voice activated.' Ian thought.
"How will the system help in doing so?"
[ Host: Ian Maxwell.
GP (Goal Points): -1000
GP is gained when the host gets closer towards his goal.
GP is deducted when the host moves away from his goal.
GP can be used to access skill shop. ]
'What the hell, I am in negative?! But I even worked 9 hours today for fucks sake!'
"Why is it negative?"
There was no response from the floating text, as it remained as it was.
"Skill shop."
[ Skill shop unlocks when the system reaches level 2 ]
"..." Ian grumbled, "System level."
[ System Level: 1
GP required to level up: 10000 ]
'Okay. So 11k for me. Great!' Ian thought, 'Wait…
Isn't it useless for me right now?!'
"Other uses."
Once again, there was no change.
Ian sighed deeply.
So he somehow gained a 'assistant' for himself like some novel and manhwa protagonists, but the system was useless for him currently.
Though, thinking about the manhwa and novels, Ian tried something he had seen quite often.
"Status."
[ Host: Ian Maxwell.
Status: Tired, Hungry. ]
'...Not what I expected.'
"Stat window."
"Profile?"
[ Host: Ian Maxwell.
Skills: None.
Stats: 10
GP: -1000
System Level: 1 ]
Ian sighed again, leaning back onto the couch and said, "Disappear."
All the floating text in front of his eyes vanished instantly as he tried to make himself comfortable and laid on the couch.
The status wasn't wrong.
Ian was truly dead tired. As for hunger… he will think about it in the morning.
***
Next morning, Ian woke up to a tantalizing aroma of eggs.
He made his way into the kitchen and found Alice standing in front of the stove, while a broken and messy omelette was sizzling on the pan.
"You know how to cook?" Ian asked, surprised.
"Obviously not!" Alice looked at him deadpanned, thinking he was mocking her.
But she was unable to find a hint of mockery in his tone or eyes.
"It smells good enough." he said, feeling too hungry due to last night.
"It's mine. Make one yourself." Alice scoffed, feeling a little happy inside.
It was her first time trying to cook something, after watching a reel on her phone about it, but as always, the omelette she cooked looked nothing like the video.
It was broken, too runny and uneven.
"I don't know how to." Ian replied.
"Neither do I, I was trying to copy a reel." Alice said.
"Well alright," Ian sighed, walking away from the kitchen to freshen up and brush his teeth before he could try to cook one himself.
After 10 minutes, Ian walked out of the bathroom and the tantalizing aroma was still lingering in the air, making him hungrier.
Alice could be seen in the kitchen, trying to flip an omelette without letting it break, but still failing miserably.
"Let me try." Ian walked to her confidently and held the pan by its handle.
He tilted it a little to the front edge, before jerking it backwards to make the omelette flip perfectly.
Though, on his first try, the omelette ended up falling on the floor.
Alice smiled.
"Ah, you can eat that."