The System And The Error

Drip… Drip… Drip…

I awoke as another water droplet fell on my head. Awakening meant one thing: I wasn't dead. Not yet, anyway.

I looked around at my surroundings. There were rocks, dirt and limestone. Several glowing purple stones illuminated the darkness. Combined with the musky dampness in the air, it was clear to me that I was in a cave.

“Pippa, did you take me here?”

“Pwii,” she responded proudly, tilting her body upwards.

“Do you know where we are exactly?”

“Pwii,” this time she looked less certain.

“I see,” I gave her chin a quick scratch. “Well, at least we don’t appear to be in any immediate danger.”

I looked up at the roof. The water dripping from the ceiling suggested we were below ground level. How far or where, I had no idea, but at least it seemed no individuals were trying to kill me here. I lay back down to admire the stalactites.

“What the hell was with Elder Rudolf? He seemed like such a nice person. Why did he try to kill me?”

“Pwii,” Pippa responded, flapping her wings, although I had no idea what she was trying to tell me.

“It was like he was a different person.”

“Pwii,” she began, flapping her wings more quickly, as if she were frustrated by my inability to understand her.

“Like a man possessed.”

“Pwii,” she was beginning to look angrily at me.

“What?”

“Pwii Pwii… Pwii,” she tried her best to explain.

“I see…” I nodded my head, finally realising it. “I don’t speak Pwiiwanese.”

“Pwii,” she cawed back, looking shocked, almost horrified by this revelation.

I couldn’t help but smile at Pippa.

“That being said, I greatly appreciate what you did back there.”

I rubbed her head gently, and as I did, I took a proper look around the room. The purple crystals were interesting. It would be wonderful if I could pocket them. I hated to think how much each was worth, but alas, I didn't have the space to carry them.

Then something more appealing caught my eye. A lone wooden treasure chest was up against the back of the chamber's walls.

My instant worry was that I knew very little about this world. What if mimics existed? Would approaching it trigger a battle?

I picked up a handful of stones and threw them at the chest. It clunked but didn't move.

Although I still wasn’t convinced that it wasn’t a mimic, my curiosity was unbearable, and I slowly approached it. As I nudged closer, I was half-expecting it to move at any time. But it remained motionless.

I slowly placed my hand on it.

It still didn’t move. By now, I was finally convinced that it wasn’t actually a mimic but just a chest. Hell, I didn't even know if mimics existed in this world.

I rested my other hand on the chest and began to lift the lid. The chest slowly opened, revealing absolutely nothing. No broken ‘cheat’ items, no gold, nothing.

Of course, it was empty. What was I expecting? Well, who needed treasure anyway?

I turned back to Pippa.

“Now, we should probably try to figure out a way out of here.”

“Pwii,” she squeaked in agreement.

“Are you able to do your glowing light thing again?”

“Pwii,” she sulked.

“So, just a one-way trip, huh?”

She nodded, looking sad. I reached out and pulled gently at her cheek.

“Not to worry, we will find a way out.”

Though I put on a brave face, the truth was I had no idea where I was or how to get out. Luckily, there was only one exit to this chamber, so I walked towards it.

It opened up into a winding path. As I walked down the path, I remained alert. This world had magic and odd creatures, such as Pippa. There was a good chance we weren’t alone in this cave, and I had no doubts they were more than likely not as friendly as she was.

The path was long, I must have walked about five minutes continuously, and there did not appear to be any offshoots or larger rooms. It was just a long, empty, winding path.

After some time, something in the corner of the corridor caught my eye. It was a skeleton of what appeared to be a human. It had no armour, just torn leather where some light armour would have been. One of the arms was missing, and one of the legs looked like it had shattered into countless pieces. The only thing of any worth was an old rusty knife. Even then, the knife was a far cry from anything of wealth. Calling it a dagger was already being generous.

Still, as I had no other items, and the fear of running into a vicious creature meant having the tetanus blade would be safer than nothing at all. I picked it up, keeping it in my left hand, my dominant hand.

“What do you think? I look pretty cool, right?”

“Pwii,” Pippa chirped, her eyes almost sparkling as she nodded frantically.

I almost felt bad for asking her, it was meant as a joke. I didn’t think she would find it cool.

After pocketing the rusty ravager, I continued to walk until the path opened up into hundreds of splitting directions. One by one, I explored, some looped around, and others led to dead ends. Each time I backtracked was a frustrating reminder of how hopeless my situation was. Still, at least I hadn't run into any creatures that would harm me. However, this lack of creatures also signalled two other potential concerns.

It could be that this was a dead-end cave with no exits, no life. However, the skeleton down here suggests otherwise. If they got down here, there must be a way in, no matter how difficult it is to find. Alternatively, the more likely explanation was that a creature was somewhere down here, and it had already hunted the other creatures that would normally inhabit this space. I hoped I was wrong about that one.

I entered the room, which noticeably had a gigantic clear blue crystal. Without any warning, Pippa flew full speed towards me and buried herself deep within my blazer. Her tiny body was trembling. Though I couldn’t see her, I could feel her wings curled tight across her face, as if she were trying to hide. Something scared her, and that scared me.

My grip tightened around the rusty dagger. I glanced around, expecting to see a creature of some sort, but there was nothing but stillness. It was almost eerie how still it was. Suddenly, the large, clear blue crystal began to shine more brightly, and a familiar red text appeared on its surface.

The System notices the error. The System looks at the error.

So the blue crystal acts as some conjugate for the System. Still, it was a good opportunity to list off my complaints against it.

“I wasn’t expecting to hear from you. Seems like you made a mistake with giving me skills.”

The System does not make mistakes. The System is angry at the error. The System cannot intervene directly against the error. The System is frustrated.

“Good,” I wanted to say more, but the next words were more ominous.

The System notices that an Administrator is already aware of the error. The Administrator has already taken action to remove the error. The error is still here. That’s strange. The Administrator did not do a good job. The System checks which Administrator it is.

An Administrator? Well, I suppose if there's a System, someone has to be behind it. I guess I never really thought about it. But wait, what was that second part? They tried to eliminate me? Other than Elder Rudolf, was there anyone else?

The System smiles seeing the Administrator’s name. The System does not need to worry about the error.

The message was ominous, and it certainly wasn’t in my best interest to pick fights with it. But it picked a fight first. And I was pissed off.

I responded by sticking my middle finger up at it.

“Bring it on.”

▪──── X ────▪

End of chapter 3