01 Arc 1 - System Active

I cup my hands and blow my breath, trying to warm my face in the cold environment.

“It feels like Alaska in here.” I mumble to myself.

The universe is cruel for sending me to this body that has no resistance to anything whatsoever. In this world that is full of the unthinkable, the least that they can do is giving me some magic power to cast a fire. But no. Not only did I was taken here without my consent, they give me a body that weak he can’t even raise a sword without being nervous.

I take my gun from the holster and reload it with fire bullets. Since this body sucks at magic, I have to resort to the most familiar weapon from my previous life: Guns. It doesn’t work on most monsters, but besides knives, that’s the only weapon this body can hold without being nervous. My aim sucks at knives though, hence the handgun.

I wasn’t a sharpshooter, but I’m a fast learner. I can shoot with better accuracy now than I was in my previous world. But that’s only because I was preparing exactly for this moment. I would’ve brought firearms with higher power, but sadly, this handgun is the only thing I have access to right now.

I hear a soft blip as I go around a thick frozen pillar. Then a small interface appears in front of me.

***

Main mission: Finish your first part of STARs Exam (Has to be done the first time)

Reward:

1. System activated

2. Ability Points enabled

3. Skill Points enabled

4. 5 Potions

+

Side mission: Defeat the Ice Fairy Khione and receive her blessing

Reward:

1. Khione

2. Summoner (Job)

3. Elemental Skill

***

Then it disappears with a soft slide transition.

That pop up system is not a part of this world. But I also don’t know what it is. I only know that I woke up one day and found out that I’ve been transmigrated into the body of an academy student, in a game I’ve played years ago, with that pop up thingy floating in front of my face.

I’ve heard about transmigration novels, so I figured that I must’ve been transmigrated here. I don’t remember what happened in my past life, but I don’t think I’m dead. I also don’t think I can go back now, so the only way is to survive. And that’s by trusting this unknown system.

It has been quite noisy recently, as if it doesn’t want me to forget.

Well, I don’t. That’s why I’m here, trying to pass the exam and get it activated like the reward section said it would.

Those novels made it seem like a hefty of reward for having this thing active inside you, helping you get stronger. But right now thuogh, I just wish it would give an exception because I don’t know how to beat this upcoming boss fight.

I enter deeper into the cave and eventually reach the dungeon’s end. It’s a big room with different sizes of ice crystals in it. These ice crystals are filled with ice magic which contributes to the very low temperature inside the cave. Due to the abundant of ice crystal in here, the game dubbed it the ‘Ice Crystal Garden’. It would have been nice if it’s not freezing.

Mist swirls above the slightly raised platform in the middle of the room. It forms a ghastly silhouette of a human, which soon fades away and reveal the figure of a woman. But one would know she’s not a human with just one look.

Her skin is pale white with light colored crystals adorning her body, like a unique outfit. Her long, snowy white hair is flowing gently behind her as she floats above the ground, with sparkling dusts and small sized crystals floating around her. The figure opens her eyes, revealing a pair of icy blue in the middle of two swirling darkness.

Khione the Ice Fairy. She is the Ice Spirit that dwells in the cave northeast of Denebola City, this cave. In the game, we must beat her to finish the test. But this body is hella weak, I don’t know if I can.

I shrug. ‘Only one way to find out.’

I aim my gun at her and pull the trigger. The bullet flashes at her, but it’s reflected by a transparent blue barrier that just suddenly appeared.

I freeze. That barrier does not appear in the game. What now?

The creature narrows her eyes at me. The sparkling dusts around her swirl and form two big icicles on each of her sides. My panic level rises as I see her swings her hand and the icicles come flying at me. I dodge them to the side and skidded to a stop behind one of the crystals in the room. The icicles shatter against the wall with a loud sound that made my heart skip a beat.

‘I’m gonna die!’ I thought with a drop of sweat. ‘I shouldn’t have come here!’

I turn around to look at her position, but I see another icicle coming. I immediately jump to the next crystal and dodge the shot just in time as the pervious one shatters into pieces.

I pout and cry in my heart. ‘Mama! How do I beat this thing?!’

She didn’t have that transparent barrier in the game, so I was surprised. But there should be something I can try.

I turn back and see her forming another shot. I notice a chance, so I quickly change my magazine. Then I pull the trigger at her.

The shot flashes with a red hue and hit her barrier. But that’s not all, it shatters the barrier like broken glass and through her left upper arm. Something interesting happens here. When the bullet hits, it explodes in a small scale that shatters her arm and sends sparks of fire over her upper body.

It disorients her for a few seconds, and stops her icicle from forming. Her shattered arm is like broken crystals floating in the air, joining her other floating crystals. But I can see that those shattered crystals are slowly returning to form her arm.

I realized I just made the opening I wanted, so I immediately open fire. Three consecutive shots hit her shoulder, her stomach, and her hips. All of them exploding afterwards and shattering her respective body parts.

She doesn’t scream or let out any response. Her appearance that looks like a broken porcelain doll, along with the crinkling sounds of the floating crystals bumping against each other, it makes the scene grotesquely beautiful.

She looks at my direction, her eyes glaring sharply. Uh-oh.

Her left arm is immediately restored and mists starts forming above her in big scale. Oh dear. I might know this one attack, but that means I need to skedaddle. It could kill me, and while I don’t know what would happen if I die, I’d rather not risk it. There is no save point here after all.

There’s a blip sound and the system’s interface appears in front of me again.

I stare at it in annoyance. “I know, damn it! Can’t you pop up after the battle? I’m having a crisis right here!”

As if sensing the irritation in my voice, it vanishes with another blip.

On the off chance that I can’t beat her, I need a prove to show the examiners that I’ve reached her. I immediately think of the Arrow.

Arrow is a smartwatch from the academy. It works like camera, GPS, cloud drive, communication, and also serve as identifier of the student. It’s very neat and helpful on various occasions, like right now when I have to record my fight with her for the test. Though I still have to point it at her so she can be in the recording.

I was fiddling with my Arrow when the room’s atmosphere suddenly changes. So I look at the entity in wary and I realize she had conjured up a giant ball. ‘She’s gonna shoot!’

I manage to activate my recorder in time as she launches the ball at my direction. I immediately run to the side and jump away as the ball blasts off on the crystals, sending snow and cold icy winds around the scene.

I tremble as the cold hit me, but I prepare my heart for another round. I turn with my gun ready, but when I’m about to shoot, another giant snowball comes right at me. It hits the crystal I’m currently hiding in and I don’t have enough time to dodge the impact. It sends me flying backward that I hit the big crystal behind me.

I groan in pain as the pain spurs from my back. “Oww… That’s not fair…”

I thought that having the knowledge of this world is enough to get me a headstart. But apparently, I’m not strong enough to take down this spirit by myself. She’s too fast!

I sense another change in the atmosphere, and I immediately look up. She’s still floating on the stage several meters away from me, and she’s readying not only one, but three more giant snowballs.

I squeak and scramble to the exit. “I’m not dying today!”

Blasts of giant snowballs hit the crystals behind me as I run, the blasts of snow falling on me every time one explodes.

I don’t want to die, but I still have to get her on the screen. The third ball explodes right on the crystal I just ran past, so I’m hit by the impact. I fall forward and eat snow. But I hurrily look to the side and notice that mists begin swirling around her again.

Adrenaline rushes into my head and I immediately pull my Arrow in front of me. “Say cheese!”

There’s a click sound coming from my Arrow. Khione looks confused for a second. But I’m done.

“Or ice, whatever! Bye!” I pull myself up and bolt out of there.

I'm not gonna risk my life this early in the plot. There's still time to beat her after the exam if I really want to get the side quest reward. But for now, passing the exam is enough.

My instinct suddenly heightens. I roll myself out of the room in time as something shatters loudly behind me.

I rush out of that hallway and don't look back.

I can’t think of anything as I make my way out of that cavern. The only thing in my mind is getting the hell out of here. I ignore the lesser monsters coming my way, dodging through the falling ice water, and the next thing I know, I reach the end of the tunnel.

I speed up my run and roll myself out of that cavern. The outside light blinds me for a while, but nothing a few blinks can’t fix. When I see that I’m no longer inside that icy dungeon, I breath myself a sigh of relief.

I scream in panic when I feel something touching my head. But when I see that it’s my instructor, I put on a flat face. “Don’t surprise me like that!”

The instructor, a tall young woman with orange hair pulled to a bun, smiles and brushes off his head from the snow covering it. “Welcome back, Terrence.”

“Did I make it?” I asked.

She turns to the examiners. “Time?”

One of the examiners is looking at their Arrow. “13 seconds left.”

She turns to me again and offer her hand. “How far inside?”

I let her take my hand to inspect my Arrow. She stops the recording and replays it, and her smile widens. She then pauses the video and let the examiners see it for themselves.

“This proof is legitimate. Instructor, please announce the result.”

My instructor lets go of my hand and claps once. “Terrence Blair. Congratulations, you passed the first exam.” She smiles at me.

I pump my fists. “YES!!”

“I guess 13 is your lucky number.” She said.

I grin. “Guess so.”

“Thin ice, buddy. Thin ice.” The examiners chuckled.

I laugh along.

***

Mission completed!

You passed the first part of STARs Exam!

System activating…

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***