It was quiet; only the light breathing of the room's owner, Tom, could be heard. It was already almost midday, yet he was still sleeping, although not on the bed, and his position was not at all comfortable.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAklCBiDXOwN
Tom was a newly established writer who had just started getting used to the tight schedules and deadlines. Time management was not his strong suit. As a result, he needed to stay up late in order to be able to meet the set deadlines. On rare occasions, he even fell asleep by his computer, just like now.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAassx5ta3sd
He was leaned back, his hands resting on the arms of his chair. He had his mouth wide open, and a long string of drool had made its way down his chin, staining his shirt.
231Please respect copyright.PENANA4584B40jNf
He would have kept sleeping if it wasn't for a sudden ring. Someone had pressed his doorbell, and a loud, sudden sound woke him up instantly. It was rude, but it needed an awakening.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAuO6BR3x6z2
Feeling his slavia on his face, Tom quickly used his hand to clean it. With a slow movement, he lowered his hand back down; then he stared at his monitor, which had already turned off automatically.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAbve9G0q3gr
"Great... I slept by in my chair again..."
231Please respect copyright.PENANANM3cYmJoDP
He muttered as he turned the monitor on again and was about to start focusing on writing again, but his doorbell rang again. Upon hearing its sound, he took a deep breath and stood up.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAxyWWRn5iHi
Since he was so busy, he decided to do his usual grocery shopping online instead of going to the store personally, and it seemed that the delivery had arrived. Tom had a decently sized house with a bedroom, a well-equipped kitchen, a large living room, a study, a bathroom, a storage room, and a garage, which was currently empty as he had lent his car to his friend.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAtb7J5ZP6iR
The moment he got to the door and opened it, he noticed a relatively angry man, though he couldn't be bothered as he was still half asleep. The man pushed him a few documents and then instantly walked away.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAK9TQ8XDB5O
Tom slowly stepped outside, rubbing his eyes. He saw how the man got into the truck and quickly drove off. His driveway was full of wooden crates.
231Please respect copyright.PENANA46BoKMANNL
"I thought they would at least put them into my garage..."
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He murmured under his breath as he tried to fight off a yawn.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAzSpi8fNUh1
"At least maybe by moving these boxes, I will be able to wake up... I still need to focus on writing... Why the hell did I not divide my workload up properly?!"
231Please respect copyright.PENANAGPUC7e0NM0
With a loud groan, he opened the door of his garage and started pushing the box inside. He was so frustrated that he didn't even check whether he had everything he had ordered or even opened them to see what should go into the fridge or the freezer.
231Please respect copyright.PENANANPTakqpNum
In a few long minutes, he managed to transport the boxes to his garage, so he quickly went inside. From his kitchen, he grabbed a large slice of bread and sat back down to write.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAcDp6kcP6R8
Fortunately for him, after moving the boxes, he felt quite awake and, to some extent, energetic, though it quickly faded as he began to work. From time to time, he slightly moved his head and shoulders; in that process, his long and somewhat unattended black hair got in his way and covered his big blue eyes, but he just shoved his hair out of the way.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAlQnK0BiWYb
Suddenly, as he was immersed in his work, an earthquake shook him. It only lasted strangely for a brief moment, but in that moment, he fell off of his chair.
231Please respect copyright.PENANA3XbZ5hzYXp
"What the..."
231Please respect copyright.PENANAB8grsuxHt0
He muttered angrily, then pushed himself up and sat back on his chair. Just to be safe, he saved his current progress and was about to continue working, but his computer suddenly turned off, and another, but even stronger tremor appeared.
231Please respect copyright.PENANANF1gVPHhF2
He hit his head against the cold floor once again, and as he finally registered what had happened, something unexpected started hovering before his eyes. It seemed as if it was a floating piece of text with a strange colour scheme. It had a dark grey background and a yellowish font.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAULOtSXf6f0
"The system is starting! Please stand by!"
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He just shook his head as it still hurt after hitting the ground, and as he once again looked in the direction where he saw the text, it had already vanished.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAwxzuB4MyCf
"I must have hit my head quite hard... There is no way such a thing would really happen; in stories, even in mine, a system only appears after some sort of tragic or strange event... All I did was work."
231Please respect copyright.PENANA9NWx4aY2BS
An audible sigh left his mouth as he once again stood up. As he stared at the now dark screen, he clenched his teeth and fists, but then just relaxed.
231Please respect copyright.PENANApQORW1YMlU
His study had quite a large window through which he had learned that the sun was already going down. He had worked for hours without properly eating or drinking. Although he was angry that he was disturbed, at the very least, he realised that it was high time to eat something properly.
231Please respect copyright.PENANAwSfzsses4A
He didn't have the time nor the energy to cook anything at all, so he just grabbed the remainder of the bread and some ham from his fridge and then prepared to eat. However, just as his butt touched the chair by his dining table, he felt tired and almost instantly collapsed onto his food and started snoring.
231Please respect copyright.PENANA0O4f1TAxUU
Just then, two new notifications appeared, overlapping one another.
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"Notice! System initiated! Proceeding to prepare Host's body!"
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"Notice! A new quest has been issued! Please plant these seeds to begin your journey! Seeds had been transported to Host's inventory!"
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The first message soon vanished, but the one detailing the quest stayed, and then a third but entirely different panel appeared.
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"Name: Tom Hun
Cultivation: Mortal
Farming: 0
Alchemy: 0
Forging: 0"
231Please respect copyright.PENANAce2s4dRMki