John quickly shook his head, clearing the distracting thoughts, and focused on the tasks at hand. Putting aside the screens and recalling the system that were generated, he thought to himself, "With a system, I will be able to become strong quickly."

  With that he tried calling out for the system.Just when John thought something wasn’t right, after a while of silence, a shy voice came from the depths of the ethereal space—the voice of a child.

  "Hello, I-I am your system assistant, and I will assist you with all my power, sir!!"

  John couldn't help but freeze, hearing a child's voice and suddenly recalling those out-of-place texts. A sense of an ominous future welled up from within him; he had to, no must, figure out what it meant by assisting.

  "When you mentioned assistance, did you mean that you would provide me with quests to complete?" John had to ask. But the answer he received just confirmed his feelings.

  "I apologize. I am a new system. I cannot provide tasks or rewards. But what I can do is to assist you, by creating virtual tools. Like these screens, as well as connecting to the system hub and looking for tasks we can complete for system points."

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  John remained silent as he contemplated. After a moment, John continued to ask.

  "What is this system hub? Is it like a place where different kinds of systems, like you, gather? What about these system points? What are these tasks?" John was confused at first but also curious, as he didn't expect that something like a system hub would even exist.

  The childish voice quickly answered John's inquiry. "Yes, it's a social network for systems like me. We are sentient after all. As for the system points, it's our currency we use to trade with. And tasks are challenges of sorts that high-ranked systems give to newbies like us. All newbie systems and first hosts are in it together, and with those points, we can learn new things."

  "What about buying things?" John asked. He found it odd that the system only mentioned learning about things and not buying items.

  The voice answered a bit timidly."I am new and too low of rank, so I do not have permission nor right to buy goods. We don’t possess a storage space yet."

  John could only sigh, as he knew that it was going to be a tough life for him. He was a slacker and got used to it. He always did what was the minimum requirement of him. Now he couldn’t slack off even when he wanted to.

  "What's your name?" John inquired, believing all systems, even new ones, should have a name.

  "I am your Virtual Assistant System; you can call me VAS." The voice of a child came, after a moment's silence.