World Domination System

Host Bonding Complete

“Ugh,” Leonard groaned as he struggled to open his eyes. The first thing he did was to try and move, but pain wracked through his body immediately.

As he had a job that didn’t even allow them to miss a day, he didn’t give up and tried to stand up again. This time, he had a better result than before and was able to sit up on the floor of the dark alley.

“Host bonding completed. Welcome to the world domination system!” A mechanical voice rang out.

Leonard looked around, wondering where the voice had come from.

Although the area surrounding their school was naturally safe. It was also still an alley. Thinking that someone out there could be watching him, Leonard’s already weak body was fueled up with adrenaline, and he rushed to stand up.

Up until he ran out of the alley and into the normal road, he didn’t see anyone or hear anything again.

He checked the watch on his left wrist and saw that he was already about ten minutes late for his work.

“Think of Mother,” he encouraged himself as he struggled to walk to the restaurant where he worked.

While he was being beaten, Leonard used his hand to cover his head. Thus, his face didn’t give away how badly bruised he was.

Some part of his uniform was already soaked with blood from open skin, but he endured the stinging pain up until he got to the small restaurant where he worked for.

His role was to assist in the kitchen with cleaning and helping the chef if the workload was a lot.

“You are only just coming now?” Peter, his boss, said as he shot him a dissatisfied glance. Just by looking at his dishevelled look, Peter felt like chasing him back, but this was rush hour and he needed the extra hand.

“Go to the back room and change quickly.” He ordered as he went back to making the food.

Leonard was quick on his feet, ignoring the pain that came from every part of his body as he rushed to change out of his school uniform.

He quickly threw the uniform into the small laundry wash in the bathroom and then cleaned up a little before stepping out back.

As soon as he stepped back into the kitchen, he started to help Peter by dicing the onions and vegetables.

It was something that he had done for a long time already and he didn’t need much energy.

The both of them walked in silence save for the times that Peter would give him instructions or when a new request was made from outside.

After the day’s work, Peter, who was also the chef and the owner of the restaurant brought out a rolled-up wad of cash and walked up to Leonard.

“Leonard, don’t come back to work tomorrow. It’s already a gamble by employing you here, but you keep coming in your school uniform at a time when the inflow of customers is the highest. It is a little risky.” Peter broke the silence.

“Today was an exception… I…” Before Leonard could complete his words, he was interrupted by Peter.

“You don’t have to explain, tomorrow is usually a slower day and I can handle the work all alone up until I find a more permanent person.”

Leonard nodded in understanding. He could already tell that Peter’s mind was made up, after all, six months ago when he had begged for this job, Peter had been reluctant to employ a minor in the back kitchen.

But he had told him to pay him lesser and also went ahead to offer that he would always be around in their peak hours.

But as their senior year was getting a lot more difficult, meeting up with that arrangement was also difficult for Leonard.

“Thank you,” he thanked him sincerely. His eyes were a little misty at how difficult things were going to be.

I have paid you more than the agreed amount and paid what you should be getting in full for the last month. This should be able to help you hang on while you find something else.” Peter explained and Leonard’s eyes swelled with gratitude and tears.

“Thank you, I’ll definitely not forget this favor of yours.”

There was nothing more to say after that between them, and Leonard picked his bag up and left as soon as he packed his already cleaned uniform.

He walked the entire distance to the bus stop that he had dropped off this morning and could only thank the slightly chill weather as he walked.

“Level one installation complete. The host can proceed with the profile set up.”

Leonard looked around him one more time, wondering if he was being followed as he had heard the exact same voice. Moreover, the voice sounded completely robotic and mechanical.

After confirming one more time that there was no one with him, Leonard continued his jog to the bus stop.

He met the almost full bus and quickly entered, starting the long trip home.

Not only had Peter given him money that could help Leonard and his mom survive for a while, but he had also given him some of the restaurant’s left over, and so he didn’t have to spend money on buying anything this evening.

By the time he got home, his mother was just bringing in some clothes that she had left out to dry.

“Leo,” she called softly, her eyes filled with intense doting.

“Mom, I’m back.”

All of the thoughts he had and his worries were pushed to the back of his mind as he helped his mother with some of the clothes.

Despite having so much to handle, Leonard had made a habit of keeping everything away from her as he didn’t like her worrying.

“The clothes are a lot this time. You must have been unable to do anything else,” Leonard commented as they kept batch after batch into the basket.

To make some money, his mother, who was unable to find normal jobs because of her lack of education, made some money by doing petty tasks for money.

She would usually clean for people and sometimes assist anyone that had too much on their hands.

Another stable thing she did was laundry for people as the people here couldn’t afford the expensive laundromat and machines. They would pay her a meagre sum to wash by hand.

“It’s good. This time, I made more money by washing more. The remaining would be done tomorrow. Also, Auntie Diane has promised to get me work in the city so that I can also have something that’s a lot more stable,”

Leonard watched as his mom rambled on. Knowing that she had been lonely all day, he allowed her to talk freely while he set up the ironing board to begin to fold the clothes.

The both of them settled into a familiar routine as they ironed and chatted.

After they were done with more than seventy percent of the clothes, Leonard went in to clean up while his mom took the bag of food he had brought back to heat it up.

As he entered the bathroom, the voice rang out again, “Host has less than five minutes to set up their profile, otherwise, the system would induce a brain blackout.”

Leonard froze this time, his eyes opening wide.

“Host profile?”

“Command activated. The world domination system is doing a scan to know about the host.”

Leonard looked around again, finding it weird that he was hearing a voice in his head.

“Host is Leonard.

Age - 16

Blood group - O-

Intelligence level - very high

Physical Strength - extremely low

Martial strength - not present

Mental strength- high

Social status - low

Finances - $1200

Social circle - nothing.”

Leonard watched the transparent screen that lit up in front of him with a board in shock. He cautiously stretched his hands out and pushed the screen to see if it would move. Instead, his hands passed through it freely.

“What is going on?”

“The world-domination system was created by more than ten of the world’s best geniuses and has been handed down generation after generation to the fated one.”

“You are the weakest host to have held possession of the system and would have a long way to go.”

The robotic voice paused as streams of information flowed into Leonard’s mind.

His eyes were still open in shock, closed immediately as he tried to absorb the information he had gotten.

“The world domination system,” he mumbled after a while.

He wondered exactly where he had met a thing like this, or was this something that came to someone when someone was out of their wits ends?

He thought back to when he had been beaten unconscious, remembering that he had heard the voice for the first then.

“The system was passed over to you this morning,” the robotic voice rang out again.

“I can, with the aid of the system’s technology, access your memories to get any information I want,” the voice continued, and Leonard’s brows furrowed together.

“Who are you?” He asked

“I’m the system’s guardian and the one that helps the hosts to dominate the world like they are supposed to.”

Just from his words, Leonard could feel his blood boiling.

“The system focuses on training the host and then dominating the world. Like I said, you are too weak, and even the simplest tasks achieved by the previous hosts cannot be done by you. Thus, the system would generate new tasks that would train the host in every area.”

Leonard found himself nodding, his anticipation climbing high, but no matter how he tried, he didn’t hear anything anymore.

Eventually, he gave up and stepped out of the shower. His entire mind was on the world domination system and the promise that it held for him.

He had no idea what its full abilities were but from the information he had gotten, he roughly understood what the system was about.

When Leonard finally stepped out, his mother had set the table and even finished ironing the remaining clothes they had left previously.

“Hmmm, you have had a long day. It’s okay to spend some more time in the shower,” his mother hurried to say as he tried to explain himself.

“Tomorrow, after doing the laundry, I’ll go to the city to meet Auntie Diane. Hopefully, something comes out of it so that I can take care of you all by myself.”