The System

Slowly, Max's eyelids began to blink until they were fully opened, his body felt heavy and his head was in pain. He got up slowly from the floor and touched his head carefully to see if there are any injuries.

'Why do I feel pain in my head but I don't feel any injury on it? And my chest....the wounds are gone!" He thought to himself and yelled inwardly, he was stunned to see that the deep wounds in his chest are all gone, leaving the place smooth and clean.

Just as he tried to get up, he tilted his head to the other side and was shocked to see someone lying comfortably on his bed.

"Wh-who are you? And how did you get in here?" He asked with a stammer. By now he was already on his feet but he dared not go anywhere close to the figure.

The figure Max was talking to simply yawned and stretched before sitting in an upright position. "Of a truth, I have never slept so soundly and peacefully in all my life as a Demon Lord," the figure who was a man with a masked face said. He caressed the bed with a wide grin on his face and shook his head continuously, "This bed is simply the best I've seen so far. Kid, where in the world did you get this because I've never seen this type in the whole demon realm."

As the man spoke, Max kept placing his hand on his forehead and neck to check his body temperature. "I am certainly fine but why do I feel like I'm hallucinating?" he asked out to the hearing of the man who chuckled and stood up. Max seeing the man's movement also began to move backwards until his back hit the wall, "D-Don't come near me please," he gulped and pleaded with his forehead already covered in tiny drops of sweat.

"I'm not trying to scare you kid, I just want to help you remember some events of last night, nothing else," the man said as he approached Max. When he got close enough to him, he flicked his forehead causing him to yelp.

"Ouch! what was that for?" He asked as he glared at the man.

"I had to do it this way because it's the only way. Close your eyes and try to recollect the things that happened last night before you lost consciousness."

After glaring at the man for a while, Max decided to do what he was asked to. He shut his eyes and began to remember the last night's events. "How he was beaten and battered by the boy, how he got into his room with a series of cuts on his chest, how he was on the verge of dying and lastly how he was engulfed in a strange light. Everything played like a movie in his head and when he was done, he opened his eyes to look at the man only to find him lying back on his bed.

Max wanted to complain about the man's audacity but decided against it. "Were you the one that I saw last night?" he asked instead and the man nodded. "Did you save me?" 

"Of course, I did. If not me, who else would do that?" The man asked and shook his head. To him, that isn't the most important question at the moment but instead of asking a relevant question, the boy kept asking irrelevant ones.

"Who are you then?... I mean how did you get here?"  Max asked with a creased brow.

"That is it! This should be your question and not the other way round," the man said with a beaming smile, he stopped smiling and became serious. "As I said before, I am a Demon Lord and my name is Damon. I came here to help you because I've been watching you for a long time now and I have seen your sufferings and pains, I was only waiting for the right moment to aid you and it just came yesterday. I have given you a gift and that gift, is making you my successor but in the meantime, you won't be able to become the next demon lord considering how weak you are and that is why I have given you a system that will help grow, evolve and become powerful...."  the demon lord Damon stopped talking as he saw the confused look on the boy's face, he silently waited to be asked some questions because he believed that the boy will undoubtedly ask him one or two.

"So how do I operate the system?" Max suddenly asked after a moment of silence and to the shock of the man.

"Huh, what did you say?" Damon asked in shock. This wasn't what he was expecting from the boy, not even at this point.

"I said how do I make use of the system or isn't it functioning?" Max asked again, this time a little more serious than he was before.

"Just a word and everything will appear before your eyes," Damon replied.

"What word?" Max asked impatiently.

"System! Say it inwardly and it'll appear before your eyes, right now I need to go...Duty calls! But I hope you become strong quickly, I'm getting pretty old already," Damon said and disappeared immediately, leaving no traces behind.

Max silently watched the man disappear and when he was gone, he let out a relieved sigh and thought 'system' in his head.

<<Name: Max Owen>>

<<Race: Human>>

<<Level: 1>>

<<HP: 100/100>>

<<XP:0/100>>

<<Strength: 10>>

<<Agility: 10>>

<<Mind: 10>>

<<Stamina: 10>>

"This is awesome!" Max sad out loud as he stared at the blue transparent window before his face. Though his stats were low, he still felt happy.  Just like the stats bar, he saw other bars such as the skills bar, evolution bar and quest bar. He directly thought about the skills bar with every ounce of expectations in his eyes but what he saw made him drop his shoulders in disappointment.

<<Skills Bar>>

<<Skills to unlock: Empty>>

<<Skills Point: Empty>>

"My skill bar is empty, that means I have nothing yet but even at that, I'm not complaining, I will be patient with it," Max said reassuringly and moved to the next bar.

<<Evolution bar>>

<< Empty>>

"Everything is locked, let's move on to quest," he said and thought 'quest' in his head.

<<Quest bar>>

<<Main Quest: Reach Level 10>>

<<Reward: Locked>>

<<Daily Quest: 500 press-ups and 500 sit ups>>

<<Duration: Every morning For Two weeks>>

<<Reward: 5XP For Each morning>>

"Isn't the system a bit stingy with rewards?" Max asked with creased brows. "Who am I to complain? I'll do it, still!" A smile crept up to his face as he imagined how powerful he is going to be soon. As long as this system gives him an ability just like other kids, he wouldn't mind if it belongs to a demon or even a devil.

"Time to start my quests!" He said as a grin appeared on his face.