"Vesper, dear, wake up. Breakfast is ready."
Gently shaking his shoulder, Heaven tried to wake him, but it was proving rather difficult.
"Mmm… just five more minutes."
That's what he'd been repeating for the past hour, and this was Heaven's fourth attempt to get him up—so she decided to play dirty.
"Vesper, if you don't get up, I'll go through your search history."
The result was instantaneous. He sprang upright like Dracula, his sleepy eyes locking onto his mom's face.
"I'm up! See? I'm up!"
Heaven looked at him with a feigned look of disgust and rolled her eyes.
"Hey! I-It's not like I have anything bad on there!… It's just embarrassing for people to see what you don't understand, so you look it up! Nothing bad!"
"Whatever. Breakfast is ready in the dining room, so get moving. I've got a gift for you after—and here you've been sleeping for the past hour. Guess you don't want it?"
Vesper shook off his sleepiness and rushed off to the bathroom to get ready.
Thirty minutes later, Vesper found himself wandering down the hallway, wondering where the dining room was.
He was dressed in a white long-sleeve shirt and gray shorts, his hair tied back in a low ponytail.
His bare feet echoed softly through the silent hall as he moved farther from his room. He decided to head in the same direction as yesterday—the library had been that way, so he assumed the rest of the main rooms were too.
As he continued walking, he caught the scent of cooked sausage, eggs, and other breakfast foods blending together in the air.
Following the scent, he made his way down the hall toward a room that opened up at the end without doors. As he got closer, he could see a table laid out with an assortment of breakfast dishes—and his mother seated beside them.
Walking into the dining room, Vesper's full attention was on the food. Some dishes were familiar, others completely alien, yet all of them made his mouth water.
"Vesper, come sit."
Heaven said, patting the seat beside her, snapping him out of his daze.
Swallowing hungrily, Vesper made his way over and took a seat.
"Well, let's eat. Then we can talk."
Nodding, he reached forward and filled his plate—sausages, eggs, biscuits, ham, fish, rice, and fruit.
He picked up one that looked like a mango. Peeling back its orange-green skin, he revealed flesh that was clear and deep azure blue, almost like gelatin.
Curious, he leaned forward and took a bite.
His teeth sank into the fruit. Despite its jelly-like appearance, it had the crispness of an apple and the taste of an orange.
Confusion flickered across his face as he slowly chewed.
Heaven watched him from the side, noticing the crease in his brow and the way his eyes narrowed as he studied the fruit.
To her, it looked like he was trying to understand what he was eating.
—
It's so good.
Ah—it's so refreshing… and juicy.
This has to be the best fruit ever.
I studied the fruit in my hand. It wasn't what I expected—but I didn't care. The difference in appearance, texture, and taste completely threw me off, but… damn, it was good.
Swallowing, I leaned forward and took another bite. Then another. And another.
Lost in the moment, I didn't snap out of it until it was gone.
Instinctively, I reached for another, but was interrupted midway.
"You should try the rest of the food too. I'm sure you'll enjoy it just as much."
I nodded and continued eating, sampling the different dishes.
Most tasted how I remembered—just cleaner and richer. The simpler ones were great, but the more exotic ones were even better.
…
Burp.
Ah I'm so full!
"That was so good! Thanks for the food, Mom."
"Fufu, I'm glad you enjoyed it. What did you like the most?"
"Definitely that weird mango. It was really good."
"Oh, its name is Azure Death Mango. It earned that name because people would fight to the death over it, leading to its extinction in most places—aside from a few private stashes."
I nodded my head thinking about it, it was really good so i can understand why people would fight over it.
Hmm… was breakfast the gift?
I'm not disappointed at all—it was really good.
"Thanks for the gift, Mom."
After saying that, I noticed a brief look of confusion on her face—then realization.
"That wasn't the gift, dear. It's something else, but I suppose now's the time."
With a snap of her fingers, the leftover plates and cutlery vanished from the table.
Momentarily stunned by the sudden display, I didn't even notice when she pulled out a small cube from nowhere and set it down in front of me.
I looked down at the cube infront of me and felt a strange pull towards it.
Confused i picked it up, pinching the corners in between my thumb and pointer finger.
I turned it slowly, inspecting each side, but I couldn't make sense of it.
"What is it?"
"Try pressing it to your forehead."
I looked at my mom strangely. She had a wide smile on her face—almost eerie—but I didn't think she'd ever hurt me, so… here goes nothing.
I raised the cube to my forehead, just slightly above my glabella.
Nothing happened at first. Then I felt a slight pressure build in my head, quickly shifting into a strange, sharp sensation—like a brain freeze. I scrunched my face in discomfort.
Under my fingers, the cube began to dissolve like ice, slipping straight into my forehead.
After a minute, the sensation faded.
I opened my eyes and turned to look at my mom, but something else caught my attention.
A floating panel hovered in front of me—white borders framing a transparent, multicolored screen. The words {"Loading…" } glowed in crimson, outlined in gold.
"Mom… you didn't…"
"Oh, but I did. Do you like it?"
I paused, still trying to process what I was seeing. My mind raced, thoughts flashing back to all the system novels I'd read in my past life. Then one important question surfaced.
"You made this, right? No old man's gonna try to take over my body or anything?"
"Haha, you worry too much, Vesper. Yes, I made it. You don't have to worry about that. Once it finishes loading, just go through it. It'll probably take about an hour, so you've got some time. If you want, you can check out the library."
I nodded and looked back at the screen.
{ Loading… 2% — Estimated time remaining: 1 hour 3 minutes }
"Come on, I'll show you around the library."
Mother grabbed my hand and dragged me along toward the library.
…
Sitting in a comfortable chair between towering shelves, I flipped open a book—one that was, surprisingly, about our house.
It's honestly mind-blowing—you can go wherever you want just by thinking about it. If a room didn't exist before, well… now that you need it, it simply appears.
A few main rooms stay open at all times, but if there's a specific room you want to go to, you just walk into the hall, touch the wall, and a door will appear leading to it.
No one can see our house or even come to it. It's completely closed off—hidden from outsiders.
The number of features it has blows me away, but I can hardly focus on the book. Out of the corner of my eye, the screen keeps pulling my attention.
{ Loading… 98% — Estimated time remaining: 2 minutes 27 seconds }
Time seems to crawl as I wait, anticipation building, curiosity gnawing at my thoughts about what will happen when it reaches 100%.
"You sure are excited, aren't you?"
A voice I know all too well comes from behind me. I turn to see my mom.
"Of course. You know no matter how cliche systems are, everyone dreams of having one if they get reincarnated—"
I point a finger at myself.
"—and I basically did."
"Fufu, dear, this won't be your average system… so hehehe, look forward to it."
We talked as I waited for the loading to finish. I told her about what I watched on the TV last night, and she asked which worlds I was interested in visiting. I had a few ideas in mind, but I hadn't decided yet.
Lost in our conversation, I was startled by a clear chime.
{ Ding! Identification: Vesper Evren — Loading… Loading… — Evren Multiversal Supercomputer coming online… }
I turned my attention to the screen, watching in anticipation.
The display flickered, then shifted into something familiar—a desktop-like interface with several applications lined up.
[Web] [Shop] [Draw] [Equipment] [Inventory] [Map]
"Whoa… nice, Mom!"