One day left

“Tamashi, can you wash the dishes, please?”

“Sure, give me a second.”

Warm sunlight poured over Tamashi’s slightly pale skin, and cool wind blew by, caressing his black hair.

“Ahhh...”

With a relaxed exhale, Tamashi got up from his lounger and stretched his arms out while yawning.

Instead of seeing the busy streets of Tokyo, where he grew up, he was greeted by beautiful greenery on all sides. There were meadows, forests, farms, mountains—every picturesque sight nature could offer.

Placing a book he was reading on the soft grass beside him, Tamashi stood up and turned around. What met his azure eyes was a large three-storied house with only a few windows. Despite being in such a remote location, where most people wouldn’t want to live, the house was well maintained, looking almost brand new.

I think everything will be just fine... surely. Tamashi thought to himself while admiring the house he had built with his own money. Well, he did cheat a bit by using the System, but he still did earn it all himself.

Heading inside, he passed his mother, who was currently folding laundry by the side door.

Noticing him, she smiled at Tamashi gently.

“Thank you dear,” she said in a sweet voice, causing Tamashi to offer her a smile of his own.

“It’s nothing, Mom. You can go rest. I’ll take care of the laundry after I’m done with the dishes.”

“My, aren’t you the sweetest? Well, you don’t have to ask me twice.”

With that, she placed the basket of wet clothes on the ground and went inside, humming a melody.

“I’m sorry, Mom. You’ll be back to normal tomorrow,” muttered Tamashi under his breath.

He had done something most people would be deeply ashamed of, and though he was ashamed, he didn’t regret it one bit.

Using the powers granted to him by the System, he had manipulated his mother’s mind. While it wasn’t anything too drastic, he still knew it was wrong. All Tamashi did was make his mother more easygoing and compliant, using that to convince her to move out of the city with him.

Tamashi initially wanted to take his younger siblings with him as well, but it wouldn’t make sense since both were still in school, so he had arranged dorm rooms for them, paying a whole year upfront.

His brother, eighteen years old, was only two years younger than him, now in the final year of high school. So, in his case, he would at least have a decent education, despite not being able to graduate.

His younger sister, on the other hand, was only seven years old, and in her second year of elementary school.

Despite her being their half-sister, both him and his brother still loved and cherished her dearly—probably even more than each other.

She had never met her father, who was now in prison for what he’d done to their mother, and Tamashi’s own dad had died in an accident when his sister was just ten months old, so she didn’t even remember him.

“I’ll apologize tomorrow...” whispered Tamashi quietly, trying to chase away the guilt.

While Tamashi, as the beta tester of the system, wasn’t allowed to share that fact with anyone during the testing period, he later found out there was no problem with sharing it afterward. Tamashi therefore decided to properly apologize right after the arrival of Myou’s teachings was announced worldwide.

Arriving in the kitchen, he looked at the pile of dirty dishes in the sink and frowned. He peeked around the corner to make sure his mom was already upstairs, then shut the door and examined the dishes again.

“Heh, easy.”

Suddenly, all the dishes glowed faint blue, and only a second later, they were clean and wet with water instead of being dirty and covered with crumbs and food stains. Immediately after the dishes stopped shining, the faint glow returned, and this time it left all the dishes completely dry.

“Piece of cake,” smirked Tamashi smugly.

What he had just done was use two spells purchased from the system store. One was to instantly clean dirty dishes. The second one was a spell that could dry anything wet within a certain limit.

It worked the same way that this kind of thing was usually portrayed in video games or anime. A blue screen could simply appear in front of you at any time, and you could use it like a tablet—or perhaps a projection.

The main function of the system was definitely its store, because it was used to buy almost everything it had to offer. From food, potion ingredients and recipes to magic scrolls and even literal prebuilt houses.

As a beta tester, Tamashi had a one-hundred-percent discount on every item in the store so he could test them out. Unfortunately, this feature would be taken from him tomorrow.

Because tomorrow, his year of testing would finally be over.

***

“Hello, Tamashi! It has been a year. Have you enjoyed being the test subject for the teachings of the Myou?”

“Yeah, it was fun, I guess.”

Tamashi scratched the back of his neck, acting shy. Noticing that, the Guide tried to comfort him in a friendly tone.

“You don’t have to be so embarrassed. I am just glad I picked the right person for the job!”

“T-thanks.” Tamashi laughed awkwardly.

Stupid fart. So gullible.

The only reason Tamashi behaved like this was to not appear suspicious to the Guide. He had long figured out that it was not actually a sentient being, but just a really well programmed artificial intelligence. Every emotion it displayed was fake—only a bunch of ones and zeros, or whatever the Myou used to make this thing.

Despite being such an advanced AI, it still lacked what one might call a soul.

“Over the testing period, your performance has been truly incredible,” said the Guide. “You have found many bugs and promptly reported them, as well as offered advice on how to get rid of the issues. You have also used countless features the system has to offer, working tirelessly every day so your fellow humans could enjoy Myou’s teachings in all their glory.”

“Oh... it was nothing, really. Like I said, it was fun for me too.”

The azure gas that was the Guide suddenly glowed, and Tamashi’s System window opened without him activating it.

“For accepting the role of the test subject, you will now get to choose one of these prizes as a reward.”

A notification appeared on the blue screen in front of Tamashi, and he clicked on it without delay.

It said: 

Choose one reward
Option one: 5,000,000 coins
Option two: Random potion formula
Option three: Random magic scroll
Option four: Random beast egg
Option five: Random enchanted weapon blueprint

Ah... it’s gonna be a gamble, eh?

Immediately, Tamashi discarded three of the options, since they were useless to him. Because he was a beta tester, he already had access to all the potion formulas. Unlike the magic scrolls, the potion formulas were translated to his language by the system, so he simply wrote them all down. The same thing applied to option five, so both of these would be pointless for Tamashi. As for the first option, he already had a solid plan for making a ton of coins, so there was no need for that, either.

Now, only two options remained. Both were very solid choices with their own strengths, but it ultimately came down to a matter of usefulness.

While there were many powerful and convenient spells, there were also ones like cleaning dishes... or farting on command. If Tamashi were to get that one, he would probably do something he would very much regret in the future.

Option four it is, then.

Even though there were some less practical beasts in the system as well, none were truly useless. While something like a literal housefly could hatch from the beast egg, it could still be used as a scout if nothing else, and since the beast’s lifespan was tied to its master, it would also be able to live longer than its usual thirty days.

Tamashi pretended to think about his choice for a few more minutes, wanting to appear hesitant. Eventually, though, he finally clicked option number four.

“Oho, a random beast egg? Are you a fan of animals?” inquired the Guide in a perfectly natural and casual voice.

“I just thought it would be nice to have a companion, that’s all.”

“I get that. I love animals, after all. Well, I hope you get the beast you want. But remember, even if you end up hatching a beast you didn’t originally want, you can still trade it later with other people.”

What the hell did it just say?

Tamashi just barely suppressed a scowl and lightly nodded instead.

Trade the beast? Is this thing serious? I may have gotten this egg as a reward, but the beasts are practically your pets, maybe even something similar to children. And it just casually offers me the option to trade?

The way beast eggs were usually acquired was by reaching friendship level ten with a wild beast. After that, you have the option to combine your and the beast’s mana, creating the egg. Therefore, some people could even view it as having a child with that beast, no matter how strange or weird it might sound.

“Then that is all from me. If you have any questions in the future, don’t hesitate to use the Guide button in the bottom-right corner of your screen, and I will assist you right away.”

“Okay, thank you,” replied Tamashi politely.

“Now get some good sleep, as tomorrow the Myou’s teachings will officially go public. Hooray!”

With that last word of celebration, the Guide vanished into thin air, as if it had never even existed.

Ha... if only.

Despite his hatred for the Guide, Tamashi did as he was told, changing into his pajamas and crashing onto his bed, burying his face in a fluffy pillow.

“I can’t believe it’s already been a year... Ah, I hope everything works out tomorrow...”

Tamashi then activated the Fall Asleep spell. It did exactly what its name suggested: it made the user fall asleep instantly, or after a few seconds, depending on their settings. It would then wake them up depending on their preferences.

Setting it to five seconds, Tamashi muttered before his eyelids closed:

“I’ll definitely need to buy this spell as soon as possible...”