Awakening With the Renegade System

Chapter two: Mirror and Steel Monster

'Ugh...'

'My head hurts...'

'It hurts so much...'

These were the thoughts that spun off Donald's mind as he squinted his eyes which had been blinded by the white light from before. It seemed as if several thorns were franticly stabbing into his head, causing it to throb violently.

Feeling very dizzy he felt his surrounding spin, his breathing becoming laboured. His chest heaved as he tried to take in long breathes, struggling with the pain he was feeling right now.

Earlier he had been shot by Deucalion whom his girlfriend had been cheating on him with. He was supposed to die but somehow he found himself shrouded within this white radiance, a strange voice echoing within its depths.

'You've successfully bonded with the Renegade System...' Donald repeated the words he had heard within his mind. 'The Renegade System...what the hell is that?'

Finally he was able to adjust his eyes and opened it. For a few seconds everything seemed very bright and he almost got scared that he had been engulfed in the white radiance again. But it turned out it was just his eyesight and nothing else.

His eyesight became normal and he could see properly without being affected by the white radiance from before. On a normal day he would have been filled with glee, clenching his fists in joy for not dying. But today it was very much different. And not just different...it was very terrifying.

This was because in front of him wasn't the familiar place he had grown fond of, calling home. In front of him was a ruin filled with debris and scraggly weeds growing out of them. This ruin seemed to have once been a magnificent dwelling place harbouring several humans. But now it was nothing but debris upon debris.

The atmosphere was very cold, a chilling gust of wind whooshing across the entire place. There was this stench of blood which wafted into Donald's nose, causing him to squeeze his face into the ugliest expression.

'Where the hell am I?!' he asked himself as he struggled to stand up, his legs wobbling under him. They seemed like a pair of jelly under the weight of his body.

'Blood of Donald!' he cursed as he staggered, almost falling on his face. Thankfully he didn't or that would have quickly escalated the situation into something undesirable. As someone who was obsessed with his dignity he was sure he would have died from the embarrassment.

"Thank God no one is here to witness this," he told himself as he took a deep breath, controlling his emotions. He then decided to look around this ruin in order to at least have an overall knowledge of where he was right now.

Turning his body around, he couldn't help but feel that it felt strange. His body right now felt strange, very strange. He couldn't control it and almost fell to the ground again. And it was at this moment, when he thrust his hands forward to steady himself, that he saw something more horrifying. His hands were very different!

"Blood of—" he couldn't even complete his statement because at that moment he stumbled over a rock and fell before a mirror. And when he happened to see his reflection cast by the sunlight, his expression became ashen.

Dark mischievous eyes, a cunning face, upturned lips and a lanky body which begged for more food...this wasn't him at all! This wasn't his reflection because he had blue eyes and a toned body instead of a lanky one! This wasn't him at all!

Afraid that a demon had probably gotten into the mirror he immediately moved backwards in terror, his breathing becoming more laboured. And for several seconds he remained there wondering if he should still take a look at the reflection in the mirror or not.

"But..." he muttered to himself as he raised his hands. They were very dirty as if he had been digging the ground. His fingers were caked in dirt, mud lodged beneath them.

'No...' a fearful expression appeared on his face as a terrifying thought crossed his mind. He shouldn't have accepted this thought if someone else had voiced it out to him. But after hearing the strange voice of the socalled Renegade System, he felt that it could be possible.

Besides instead of dying he was somehow in this ruin which he had never come across in his entire life. Back when he was in the university he had studied geography so he knew places all over the world much less the ones in his city, New York. And these ruins were never on the New York map!

'Have I been transmigrated into another world?' he asked himself as he crawled towards the mirror, looking at his reflection within. 'I've also been reincarnated in another body?'

He was still talking to himself when he suddenly heard the familiar voice from before. It was the same voice that had given him the choice of accepting to become a player. And it was the same voice that had informed him that he had bonded with the Renegade System.

RENEGADE SYSTEM INITIALIZATION MESSAGE

[RENEGADE SYSTEM ONLINE...]

>WELCOME BACK JAVIER OLIVER

>YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED BY THE RENEGADE SYSTEM—A FORBIDDEN SYSTEM BORN TO DEFY FATE, GODS, LAWS AND EXISTENCE ITSELF

Huh? Donald was shocked, his eyes narrowing. But that was not all because this strange entity with a monotonic voice was still speaking.

>YOU WERE BETRAYED

>YOU WERE ELIMINATED

>YOU WERE TREATED LIKE TRASH

>BUT NOW YOU'VE BEEN REBORN AS THR RENEGADE PLAYER TO OVERTURN!

"What's this prank?" Donald wanted to chuckle but stopped when he saw a holographic interface materialize in front of him. It was red in colour, glowing with a deep luminance which wasn't affected by the sunlight.

[HOST STATUS]

NAME: JAVIER OLIVER

RACE: HUMAN

TITLE: NONE

LEVEL: 0

RANK: NONE

CLASS: NONE

RENEGADE ALIGNMENT: 0%

HEALTH POINTS: 10/10

STAMINA (SP): 10/10

MANA: ???

EXP: 0

Then the socalled Renegade System resumed speaking within his mind:

>YOU ARE CURRENTLY LOCATED IN THE RUINS OF NIGHTMARE

>NEAREST CIVILIZATION: UNKNOWN

>THREAT LEVEL: MEDIUM

>OBJECTIVES:

>SURVIVE FOR 48 HOURS AND FIND THE >NEAREST HUMAN SETTLEMENT!

Donald wanted to ask the Renegade System what kind of prank it was playing when he suddenly heard a deep growl behind him. His heart almost leaped out of his chest but he still turned around slowly, beguiled by stupid curiosity. And basking in the sunlight was a creature he had never seen before!

It looked like a tiger but its teeth were larger and longer, its skin glistening like steel. Its eyes were red, glaring at the prey standing in front of it as deep monstrous growls escaped from its throat.

NAME: STEEL SABERTOOTH

RACE: MONSTER

LEVEL: 1

RANK: BRONZE

CLASS: NONE

And this was the last thing he saw before the monster leaped towards him, bearing its fangs at him. He didn't even have the chance to see the sunlight as its claws swiped at his face, concealing the sun!