Miles woke up to the unfamiliar sound of a repeating electronic beep. 

‘What... is that? It sounds like a vital sign or a heart monitor?’ 

Pushing himself up into a sitting position, he looked around. It was indeed what he had expected, and the monitor showed the current status of his body in neon green.

His heartbeat was slightly below average, his body temperature a few degrees below the norm, but his physical condition was apparently extremely good.

As he shifted his eyes away from the monitor, he suddenly realized that it was dark. 

There were no sources of light, not even a lamp turned on. There was very little illumination, and yet, he could see completely fine. Everything was clear and well-defined. In fact, he had to consciously realize it was dark, because he could see just as well as if it was day!

‘What the hell?! How?’ 

Miles blinked in surprise as he looked around, testing his sight and finding it difficult to believe that he suddenly gained night vision or some similar ability. 

It was as he did this, that he noticed he was in a small room with a single door, on a fairly comfortable bed. 

Miles wondered aloud, massaging his forehead, “What is this place? Why can I see in the dark? I guess I should just find out...”

Pulling off the wires sticking onto his chest, eliciting a loud flatlining screech from the monitor, he jumped off the bed. 

Getting off the bed should’ve been quite an easy thing to do, especially since Miles was supposed to be in ‘extremely good condition’. 

Unfortunately, it appeared he was too good. There was way too much force in his hand and in his legs compared to what he expected. 

What should have been a small jump became a great bound, sending him in a crash course towards the unfortunately low roof.

“F*cking f*ck!”

Hitting his head on the with a loud thump, Miles crashed onto the ground in a jumble of limbs. 

Almost immediately, the lights turned on. 

Miles’s eyes immediately got used to the change in lighting, but he couldn’t help but feel a bit uncomfortable…

The door smashed open as a familiar figure ran in, “Master Miles! Are you alright?!” 

Surprisingly enough, he was. Miles felt completely alright and even his head, despite having collided with the concrete roof, didn’t hurt. 

Thus, he easily pushed himself off the ground and stood back up. Staring at his body in confusion, Miles answered his guardian, “Yes, yes, I’m fine old Zhan. I-- I guess I just used too much strength?” 

Ignoring his words, the eldery butler hurried to help him up and started to pat his clothes with great fuss, as if the smallest dust particle could spontaneously kill him. 

As Miles heaved an annoyed sigh, Zhan Shen proceeded to speak sharply, “Too much strength?! Too much strength my ass! Who the hell has too much strength after being attacked by Fae? It’s fine to show weakness sometim--”

“Attacked by Fae!? So all of that really happened!?” Miles shouted with excitement, forcing the butler to stop midword. 

Zhan Shen stared at him with a frown, before placing a hand on Miles’s forehead as if checking for a fever, “Did you forget? I’m confident you don’t have a concussion or anything serious, but--” 

Miles pushed off the hand, “I’m fine! I’m fine! More importantly, are you sure? I really was attacked by Fae, a Werewolf and a Vampire!?” 

The butler seemed genuinely concerned now. He even went so far as to examine Miles’s eyes and pulse,as he answered, “Werewolf and Vampire?! What the hell are you going on about, young master?! Damn it, it really is a concussion then? Or some form of mind tampering?” 

Hearing his thoughts, Miles paused, stopping himself from shouting again. Taking a deep breath, he quickly calmed himself down. 

The only reason he had gotten so excited was due to the world shaking ramifications of what he remembered. However, it appeared that Zhan Shen wasn’t aware of the peculiarities of the incident. 

Donning his usual mask of calm, he asked promptly, “Old Zhan, tell me, what did you find when you came back to the mansion? How, and where was I?” 

Zhan Shen, as always, replied instantly, “Master Miles, I found you in the grand hall, passed out on the Peruvian rug. Considering there were no signs of forced entry, believe you were subjected to some psychic attack of the Fae, possibly from an orc shaman. 

However, I must admit, if it was not for the two crashed Fae Ships in the garden I would have thought that you had simply fainted. On that note, well done, for having taken down two Fae ships by yourself!”

Miles narrowed his eyes.

Ignoring the praise, he asked, “Were there any surviving Fae?”

The elderly butler shook his head, “None whatsoever. I returned way before the military could arrive, so I’m confident of this. Any Orcs in the ships would have burned to ashes in the explosion.

Oh, and since I acted preemptively I was able to secure ownership of the Fae shipwrecks based on the Finders Keepers Act. I also had you moved into our safe house in Capital City, before the military arrived and could report that you had passed out.” 

Miles nodded. His guardian was as decisive and reliable as always.

But there was something that troubled him greatly. The grand hall had been destroyed completely, but why had Zhan Shen not mentioned it?

He asked, but phrased it so that the worrywart butler of his wouldn’t notice, “Old Zhan, did the crash damage the mansion in any way? Is the garden fine?” 

As expected, the elderly butler didn’t notice the manipulation in his words. Unaware, he smiled and spoke, “Master Miles, the Lykaon Mansion is just a house. As long as you are safe, the Lykaons will live on.

But no, you have nothing to worry about. The Mansion remains undamaged. As for the garden, the grass near the crash site had caught fire, but it did not spread beyond the hedge maze. The mutated fae bramble is impervious to fire and had blocked the flames from spreading.

I must admit, the fact that the Fae bramble we’ve tried to remove so much, saving the rest of the garden, possibly even the mansion, is quite an unusual turn of events.” 

‘The fae bramble stopped the fire!?’

That was quite surprising. Still, Miles felt a relief at knowing Lykaon Mansion was safe, and not destroyed by his actions. 

Unfortunately, it also created a huge problem, a flaw in his memories. 

‘If the grand hall is safe, then what about everything I remember? That crazy vampire and the werewolf lady? That strange ghost lady who saved my life? That stuff about being the last son of Lykaon? They seemed way too real to be a hallucination!’

The only physical evidence for everything he remembered was the destroyed grand hall. If it was undamaged, then… it was another paradox.

It didn’t make sense. Not even a little bit.

Perhaps because he was struggling with this illogical problem, or maybe because he had just woken up, or maybe due to some other reason, Miles realized he was feeling extremely parched.

Turning towards Zhan Shen he spoke with a forced smile, “Old Zhan, I’m feeling rather thirsty. Can I get some water?” 

The butler nodded and promptly moved to the side, towards a small table with several bottles and boxes. Opening the lid of a bottle, the butler poured a glass of water.

Meanwhile, Miles continued to think, ‘However, all of what I remember does sound quite far-fetched. Maybe Old Zhan has a point? Perhaps it really is memory tampering? Could everything from the point where I entered the grand hall have been a hallucination? Could I really have been knocked out by a psychic attack?!’

He was almost prepared to accept this explanation. To push aside his memories of the vampire, the werewolf, and the ghost lady, to forget all about it and move on with his life. 

Zhan Shen came over and presented the glass. Miles took it, immediately taking a long sip. 

Feeling the cool water flow down his throat, alleviating his thirst, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of satisfaction. 

And suddenly his eyes widened in realization. 

‘Wait! If--If it really was a hallucination, then why did the fae ships crash? I specifically ordered the defense system to bring them down with minimal force! To keep them intact! If it wasn’t for that last command, they shouldn’t have crashed! That doesn’t add up!’

Taking another sip of the refreshing water, Miles forced his mind to go over everything he remembered, to find something he had missed, something he could use as proof. 

That was when he remembered it.

Just when he was about to pass out, within that flash of bright light, he had heard a series of strange messages.

They had played over each other and were difficult to separate, but he could still understand some things. 

Pleased with this new discovery, Miles took a large mouthful of water in celebration, and continued to think.

‘They were...  something about the world, and chaos? Yes, but it was actually congratulations for having unlocked something? What was that word? Uhh, it was… System?’ 

As soon as he thought this, a strange sound, reminiscent of a notification ‘ding’, rang out. 

A transparent screen with black text appeared right before his eyes. 

[User: Miles Lykaon]

[Current Form: Base Human(Enhanced). The user is advised to unlock one of the available forms by completing a quest.]

[Form Class: Newborn(?)- Lvl (?) (Unable to level up in current form. Please unlock an available form to gain access.)]

[HP: 10/10]

[Strength: 12 +5]

[Endurance: 10 +5]

[Agility: 13 +5]

[Intelligence: 70]

[Wisdom: 80]

[Influence: 1000]

[Titles: Discredited Heir of Lykaon Industries (+1000 to Influence.)

Newborn (+5 to all physical stats and Enhanced Senses(Minor).)

Cursed [First: Minor Thirst, Second: The Beast Within.]

Vessel of The Beast Within (Sealed.)

Last True Son of Lykaon (Inactive)]

‘What the f*ck?!’

Miles spat out the water in his mouth, spraying a fountain of water into the air.