One Last System

As usual, we returned to the camp when the sun started to hide behind the horizon.

This was the reason why I was so eager to read as much as I could during my day off, as I could hardly scramble together half an hour of daylight daily during the usual day of mine.

"You should get some rest," Lucius advised. "Even if your haul for today was small, it's better to prepare for tomorrow instead of being angry over it," he added as he sent a meaningful look towards my pouch before turning around and leaving for the tent.

'It really seems that he cares about how much I bring in... a bit too much,' I once again arrived at the same conclusion. But right now, all I could do about it was shrug my shoulders and go back to whatever I actually wanted to do.

Back when our relationship as a contractor and Overseer started, I paid heed to every last word of his. Even now, when we happened upon each other in the forest, I would pay my utmost attention to his movements and actions.

But outside of that? Lucius lost all the credibility he had in my eyes!

'This is going to be a pain... But I guess I will only hunt above the quota only as much as I can personally consume,' I thought before shaking my head and heading for the tent.

There were some things that I had to retrieve from it.

Upon arriving back in my compartment, I quickly locked its doors and pulled out the formation guide book from my storage ring.

I only read its first chapter... But I glanced through the entire content. That's why, instead of wasting precious time on looking for the exact spot, I could quickly turn to the right page with the answers I sought.

'Properties of arrangments,' the title read.

Or, in plain language, how would the basic formations work with a different manner of arranging the stones.

"Here it is," I muttered to myself. I traced my fingers along with the words in the paragraph I focused on.

This part of the chapter was relatively short, as the author discussed only the basic ways of arranging the stones.

But even with this alone, I could already spot several problems with how my own amplification array worked.

'This so terribly wrong,' I thought, hiding the book back into the ring.

This single glance would suffice. With it, I could quickly improve the effectiveness of my own spot,' I thought.

"Hah?" Suddenly, my decision to hide the book as soon as possible proved right.

"Here it is?" Lucius echoed my words in a strange yet clearly amused voice.

"What, so that's why you paraded through brothel unaffected?" Lucius sneered from beyond the doors. "Damn, this has to suck, man," he added, barely holding his laughter back.

'The fuck does he mean?' I thought, stunned by the sudden event.

Then, it dawned on me.

After a long and emotional visit to the brothel, what could a young man do? Someone who just returned from an exhausting but also dangerous hunting endeavor.

'This bastard,' I thought, my vision turned dark.

I didn't expect this level of jokes from this man.

'Still... Why did he sound like he was relieved?' I asked myself.

'Fuck, no,' I shook my head.

I didn't have time for folly like that.

'Huh,' I suddenly stumped down, almost falling down from the height of my bed. 'How come am I a lot more proactive in this world?'

In most of the s I read, by moving to another world, the character would end up with...

Not with a system. Not with a cheat skill. Not with a cliche romance.

But with a relatively peaceful growth.

From point A to point B and then onwards to point C.

That was the general formula, the image I had of living in another world.

'That's... How come I do more daily,' I thought, staring blankly at the tent's wall. 'Than I would do in a month back on earth?'

This question rang in my ears for a second.

It was a simple realization. And even simpler question.

What actually pushed me onward?

Sure, the events around me forced a certain path on me. This world wasn't all candies and kisses.

Still, just how the fuck did I end up being so proactive about everything I did here?

Back on earth, my life was simple.

Past a certain point, nothing really mattered. I could easily avoid the drawbacks bound to my blood. The bullying brought by my ancestry effectively ended at school.

In the end, this was the earth's society.

They were no barbarians. They wouldn't rape, rob, and kill the people they conquered.

They were civilized.

But they drove my race to the bone, whittling us away at every possibility.

We wouldn't die on the streets in riots. But we would be systematically eliminated from the life of the countries that remained after the war.

The lands that my kind could once call their ancestral home, occupied by the monsters in elegant hats and fake dignity.

This was the one thing that put those two worlds apart.

Back on earth, in the era long past the demise of my nation, I was stifled.

It was as if the air around me continued to suppress all my efforts. No matter what I did, no matter what I achieved, I was in an oppressive, hostile environment.

For the country around me, I was persona non grata.

But this changed in this world.

'So that's it,' I thought, enlightened by my sudden discovery.

'In this world,' I thought. "I'm free," I added in a soft voice.

"If you are done jerking, go to bed already. Tomorrow, we can't start late," Lucius shouted over before all the lights within the tens went down.

"Fuck off," I threw over the thin wall of the compartment.

It was a room within a tent, after all.

'Lucius and his illusions,' I thought, rolling my eyes. 'How could I get aroused by the whores after spending even a single night with Mia in my arms?'