"What the hell?"

Michael was so confused and everywhere he turned, he could only see the color white like he was caged in a white box.

"What's happening?"

He slapped his face but he didn't feel any pain.

"Huh?"

He knew he should have felt something as he tried to slap himself again but his palm went right through him.

"It can't be, just relax"

Realizing something's very wrong, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and opened them again.

But even then, nothing was changed.

"Am I dead? What was that voice I heard?"

He was trained to remain calm in any situation as panicking would only make things worse in his line of work.

Yet, no matter how hard he tried to calm and make sense out of this citation, he simply couldn't.

"Am I drugged? No, my watch would have indicated if there were any unknown substances in my blood"

As he said, he lifted his wrist to look at his watch but his Rolex was nowhere to be found on his wrist, and in fact, he just realized that he was naked.

"This is serious"

He couldn't help but frown looking at his bare naked body and even though he was naked, he couldn't feel anything or physically touch his body.

Closing his eyes again, he tried to concentrate on what just happened and the voice he had heard, just after he pulled the trigger.

"The System is looking for a body for the host, please wait"

Just as the message rang out, he could see a window pop up before him, as information could be seen scattered across the screen.

Host: Michael

Cultivation Level: Arch Sensing stage, level 1

Experience Points: 0/1000

Badass Points: 0

Current Skills: None

Occupation: None

Status: In spectral form

Goals: None

Notable Skills: Above average in marksmanship and combat

"How? What?!"

There was no one alive on earth that knew his real name but the screen was clearly showing his name and he couldn't figure out what this information was floating before him.

"Am I transmigrated? But why am I still in this form?"

He never would have thought that he would say these things but the novels he read on earth made him.

"The system, points, the cultivation, it must be that"

He analyzed the situation calmly as he could and he could tell that there's no other way to explain what's happening to him.

"Ding, the system has found a body for the host"

As the ring sound appeared in his mind, the white background around him slowly started to fade away and he found himself in what seemed to be a battle site.

"Forgive me, Elder Wright, forgive me, elders"

Michael tried to step back as he could when he saw a hooded figure crawling under his feet.

"Shit"

He noticed a man in medieval Knight armor walking towards him as he quickly looked for a weapon in instinct.

But the man seemed not to notice him as his gaze was on the figure under Michael's feet.

"Relenis Perfecasi Silicus Phantiteus Vengei Virtuula"

As an assassin, he had enhanced hearing and he was able to tell that the hooded figure had said something in a foreign language.

And just when he said these words, everything around him seemed to be paused as the flames, the wind, the man who was walking towards him, and everything was stopped like in the movies.

"Hey, can you hear me?"

Since only the hooded figure was moving, he shouted at him.

But surprisingly, a small ball of light emerged out of the hooded figure and started to take the form of a human before him.

And when Michael saw the youth who was standing before him, he was startled and the youth also looked shocked. Michael felt like he was looking at himself from nine years ago, the youth before him resembled his younger self.

"Who are you?"

Michael asked the youth before him but the youth just shook his head.

"There's no time to explain, I don't know whether you're the devil or not but please take my remaining soul energy and avenge my people, promise me"

Michael could see an immense amount of sadness in the eyes of this youth when he asked him.

"The system suggests the host promise Abras, finding a suitable body like this again would take twenty years "

The system sounded like a warning as Abras stared at him for his answer.

"It must be fate"

Michael sighed. What were the chances of him meeting his younger self in a circumstance like this and not to mention he seemed to have a system like in the novels?

"I promise"

Michael reached his hand out towards Abras as he didn't want to wait another twenty years in this form and more than that, he couldn't say no to him.

There was no smile or relief in Abras's face but grief as he took a last glance at the place around him before turning into a ball of light and flew right into Michael.

[The transmigration process has started, please wait]

The robotic voice of the system appeared again in his mind and then, he was pulled towards Abras's body.

***************************

(After two days)

Through the heart of the forest, an idle river carried all the debris that fell in from above slowly downstream. Large branches sprouted from the trees and reached into the murky water as if trying to scoop up the swarming fish. Although the warm water was an olive color from the swirling mud and microsized organisms, one could see the underwater wildlife flourish in the shallow part. Swamp-like vegetation and old, rotting trees crept into the river's edge and created slimy pools of debris from withered leaves and twigs. Among the debris, a body was floating and moving downstream.

And suddenly a ray of sunlight shone down and pierced through the closed eyes of Michael who was floating on the river and abruptly awoken by it.

Opening his eyes, he realized he was floating on the river and he quickly started to swim towards the shore before the river met a waterfall.

Even though he only swam for a couple of minutes, he felt very tired and exhausted as he lay on the wet sand for a moment.

But when he relaxed his body, he felt extreme pain in his mind as someone hitting his head with the hammer.

He clutched his head in pain while a great number of memories, both foreign and familiar, flooded his mind.

"AHHHHH!"

Michael couldn't hold back the anger and shout at the sky with all his might.

He felt overwhelming guilt, anger, helplessness, and betrayal at the same time. These memories and feelings were so lifelike that they almost felt as if he had experienced them himself.

In a short amount of time, he experienced the whole life of Abras.

"That bitch"

After separating his own memories from those of belonging to Abras, Michael's face was full of anger

[Transmigration completed, Host can now access the system ]

The familiar sound appeared in Michael's mind and drew his attention.

[Host has received a gift bag from the system, do you wish to open it now?]

The time around him seemed to be stopped when the screen appeared before him.

"Alright, let's see what I'm dealing with, open the gift bag"

Instantly, the page in his vision transformed into a golden box. The box opened as several beams of light streamed out before fading away.

[Congratulations host 'Michael' for obtaining the Initial level Experience Pill. Using the pill would give 10,000 XP]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for obtaining two healing potions. Using this potion would completely heal the host and cancel out any negative effects and the host would be invulnerable to attacks for two minutes]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for obtaining the beginner's…]

Several dings continued to rings in his mind as the interfaces tuned red

[Ding! The system has detected that the host is too weak and insist on the host to consume the XP pill immediately]

"System, how do I use the pill?"

The interface changed when he asked

"Do you wish to"

"Yes, I do"

Michael rushed the system before it could complete the question as in his mind, he could hear a series of messages from the system:

[ Host 'Michael' used the Initial Experience Pill and received 10,000 experience points]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. The current stage is Arch Sensing Level 1]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. The current stage is Arch Sensing Level 2]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. The current stage is Arch Sensing Level 3]

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. The current stage is Arch Sensing Level 4]

…

[Congratulations to host 'Michael' for leveling up. The current stage is Arch Sensing Level 10]

Immediately, Michael sensed a surge of power passed through his entire body, causing his hairs to stand straight

Following that strange sensation was a feeling of extreme comfort. The pores all over his body opened up completely, greedily devouring Arch Energy from all around.

[Congratulations to Host for reaching the Foundation stage level 1]

And in a matter of seconds, he could feel his body experiencing a tremendous change as his muscles became stronger and he felt strange energy around him. It was almost as if he could fight the most formidable fighters on the earth.

And soon the feeling became familiar due to Abras's memories and then he hurriedly sifted through the memories that didn't belong to him, gaining a clear understanding of his present circumstances.

After searching through Abras's memories, he realized that Abras belonged to a secret group called the sanctuary that protected the legendary cosmic stream. According to his memories, the water from the stream had purified arch energy and some kind of another energy that would boost someone's cultivation level by many folds, cure any illnesses, keep him young forever and do many wonders as long as he or she keeps drinking the water from the stream.

But unfortunately, Abras didn't have any contact with the outside world and had no useful information that could have made Michael's life so much easier in this world.

Yet, that didn't discourage him even a bit but put a wide grin on his face.

"Well, I have a system like in the novels, and unlike those fictional characters, I can dominate this world for real, let's begin "

After crawling away from the river, Micheal found a big tree and sat under it to familiarize himself with the system.

"Hey system, come up"

He ordered in his mind as the interface popped up before him. He could see the tabs such as host, shop, storage, subordinates, and upgrade.

Micheal looked left and right to see if anyone or anything was coming but weirdly everything seemed paused.

"While you access the system, the time will be momentarily slowed down until the host quit the system "

"Wow, cool"

His brows raised in surprise hearing the robotic voice.

"Open host"

the system opened the host tab and like in role-playing games, his naked body appeared before him along with his stats.

Host: Michael

Cultivation Level: Foundation stage, level 1

Experience Points: 4000/20000

Badass Points: 0

Current Skills: None

Occupation: None

Status: Healthy

Goals: None

Notable Skills: Above average in marksmanship

Proficient in close combat

"Proficient huh?"

Abras's skills merged with him so he instantly learned everything that Abras learned in his lifetime.

"Let's see what's in the storage"

The storage tab opened to reveal a couple of items lying before him and when he concentrated, the details and attributes of the items appeared above them.

The first item in his storage was a black tactical knife as the knife appeared in his hand.

"Hmm, perfect balance and very sharp"

He touched the knife's blade with his thumb and said.

Name: SOG Seal Pup Elite

Blade Length: 6.75 Inches

Total Length: 12.00 Inches

Total Weight: 5.40 Ounces

Special trait: Can penetrate the defense of anyone under Body strengthening stage, level 6.

"System, list all these cultivation level in ascending order"

The interface changed and a list of cultivation levels appeared before him.

Arch Sensing Stage

Foundation Stage

Body Refining Stage

Body Strengthening Stage

Core Formation Stage

Core Strengthening Stage

Soul Refining Stage

Fusion Stage

Half Immortal

Immortal

*System needs to be upgraded to reveal the next levels

At the end of the list, a red warning label appeared,

"Upgrade? What level are you now? How do I upgrade you?"

"Current System version is 1.0, the system needs 10000 badass points to be upgraded to version 2.0"

"Let me guess, more functions and more shop items will be unlocked only if I upgrade you"

Micheal read enough novels in his free time to realize how the system might work.

"The host is correct"

"How do I earn these badass points? Is there a guide or how to list?"

"Whenever the host acts badass the system will reward you with badass points"

"Not to boast but I'm a badass, system, so it won't be hard"

Micheal proudly grinned and expected an answer from the system but he didn't get one.

He already checked the healing potion so he moved to the next item which was a blue gift box.

"Does the host want to open the box?"

"No shit sherlock, open it"

With a flash of light, the box opened and a black dress appeared.

"Wait a minute, is this?"

Micheal didn't need any introduction to the dress because it was one of the most iconic costumes in his world, the black costume of Neo from the Matrix movies.

Item Name: Neo Costume

Special trait: None

Durability: Six months

"Equip it"

Since he was naked in a new world and this costume looked super cool on him, he ordered the system.

The costume fitted him perfectly but he noticed something was missing

"Hey system, where are the sunglasses that come with this costume?"

"Does the host wish to buy the Neo black sunglasses?"

"Yeah, give me that"

The interface changed and entered into the shop tab where he saw the black sunglasses floating before him.

"Three hundred badass points? Shit I don't have much"

"Then the system recommends the host to explore this world and earn more points"

"Let me browse the store for more"

The shop was categorized into weapons, potions, armors, and miscellaneous.

The moment he saw the weapons tab, he opened it with his mind, and a huge range of guns, knives, bows, and a lot more appeared.

"A navy colt is 10000 badass points? Hey system, isn't that too much?"

Even though he didn't know the value of the badass points, ten thousand for an old colt seemed to be very pricey.

"A gun is too overpowered for this world, hence the price. The system recommends the host to explore the world and earn badass points"

Considering a simple colt was this expensive, he didn't even look at the other weapons as he moved to the miscellaneous tab.

There were a few cards that appeared and he looked at the first card.

Name: Surrounding scanner

Function: Scan the host's surrounding for the presence of life

Area of effect: small

Current Level: Level 1

Next Level: Scan will identify potential threats, the area of effect will be increased.

Price: 300 badass points

"Hmm, might come in handy, what's next?"

He scrolled to select the next item

Name: Teleporter

Function: Teleport the Host to a different place instantly

Distance: small

Current Level: Level 1

Next Level: The distance will be increased.

Price: 700 badass points

"Teleporter huh? Fancy, next"

Name: X Ray vision

Function: Enable the host to activate X Ray vision

Range: small

Current Level: Level 1

Next Level: The range and the effect will be increased.

Price: 1000 badass points

"Useful, but not that important"

After this card, the system required to be upgraded to view more cards and after fiddling around the system for a few more minutes, Micheal closed the system and stood up to start his adventure in this world.

"I miss that sunglass "

Tying his hair in a ponytail, Micheal started to follow the river as Bear Grylls told in the channels.

"Okay first, I need to find a city or village and gather more intel about this world. Then I should look for a way to earn more money and speaking of money, hey system, can I convert badass points into gold coins or buy coins in a shop?"

"The system needs to be upgraded to level six to unlock that feature"

He heard the robotic voice and sighed.

"It's settled, I need to look for a way to earn money. I hope this world has hit contracts"

After walking for one hour, the clouds started to become darker and the wind was blowing like it would uproot the trees any moment from now as purple lightning cut crazy zig-zag into the dark sky.

"Storm, that's what I need now"

Micheal sighed and looked for a house or anything that looks like a shelter but he couldn't find any.

"It seems I need to go into the forest to take shelter"

Until now he avoided the dark forest and kept walking on the river shore however, now he had no choice but to go into the forest before getting struck by lightning.

The bare branches spiked into the sky - no sign of life was to be found anywhere. It was so dark, he was barely able to see where he was going. There were only small sounds of rustling bushes and the howl of the wind. He didn't know what lay in this dark forest, all he knew was that it wasn't going to be a peaceful time walking into the forest.

Fortunately, when the downspout started, Micheal found a big tree that had gigantic leaves and huge branches. He felt so tiny standing in front of the tree.

Since Abras lived his entire life in the forest, he was an expert in climbing trees and now, Micheal was able to use this skill to climb this tree and take shelter under its leaves.

Like a monkey, he flawlessly climbed the tree and comfortably rested on the branch.

"Hope there are no snakes in this tree"

Micheal was searching his mind to find anything that could help him survive in this world while the heavy rain was pouring from the sky. On earth, he would spend most of his time preparing before actually eliminating the target. He deeply valued intel and preparation but after searching his mind, he couldn't help but feel extremely unprepared.

"Am I missing, pink?"

He shook his head

"Hey, system, what happened to my body back in my world?"

"The host's body was disintegrated during the crossing over"

"Well, at least my reputation won't take a hit and those losers won't find me"

Since his body was destroyed, the cops and the federal agents wouldn't find him and he would still remain as a myth, a ghost to them who had a hundred percent success rate in assassinations.

While proudly grinning about his reputation, he suddenly heard footsteps and hissing sounds.

He quickly checked the other branches near him to see if there's a snake nearby but when he focused, he found that the sound of footsteps was coming from the ground.

As he was searching for the source, he saw a group of five strange looking creatures dragging something. If he saw these creatures on earth, he would have been shocked beyond words and even slightly terrified but because of Abras's memory, he recognized these creatures.

"Snakemen, freaky"

Some of their upper bodies resembled the body of a snake, in particular, a cobra's, and their lower body seemed to be human. And two of them had the head and torso of a human but had the body of a snake as their lower part.

Micheal knitted his brows when he noticed the thing they were dragging was not an object but a girl who seemed to be in her late teens.

"Datra, let's take a break here, I'm too tired to walk in this damn rain"

One of the snakemen complained and stopped his group.

"He's right, we are walking two days straight without any break"

"But we still have a long way to the Nagaland, we can't afford to lose her again, the queen will skin us alive if we did"

The one with a cobra head hissed but the others chuckled looking at the girl

"Look at her, Datra, the elders crippled her cultivation and now she's harmless as a butterfly, besides how can she escape with ropes tied around her limbs"

"And she can't turn into her true form anymore"

Micheal looked closer at the girl and found a small glimmer of snakeskin on her neck and realized that she wasn't a human but one of them.

"Three-body refining stage level seven, one level eight and level ten "

Normally killing them with his level of cultivation would be an impossible feat however the system gave him the perfect tool to kill them if he could catch them by surprise and kill them silently one by one without alerting the others.

But before that, he decided to open the system and browse the subordinate tab. At the moment, the interface was empty and on the corner, the system showed him the maximum number of subordinates he could have.

"Three huh? For the moment, it's enough, but system, explain how's this subordinate thing works"

"When the host wants to make someone his subordinate, you can activate the system's recruitment feature. The target must be willing to accept to be Host's subordinate and if the target is willing, the system will recruit the target as Host's subordinate"

"Can a subordinate betray me or know about you, the system?"

"Host doesn't have to worry about that, a subordinate cannot betray or harm the host in any way, and if the subordinate acts in any way that brings harm to the host, the system would activate the countermeasure and eliminate or punish the subordinate before the subordinate could harm the host. For your last question, except the host, none would know about the system's existence unless the host chose to reveal it but the system strictly recommend not to do that"

"Cool, that's what I like to hear, and im not crazy and dumb enough to say that I have a system in my mind"

He closed the system as the world before him came to life.

"Okay okay, let's take a break here, but after this rain stops, we leave here, get it?"

Datra said as they all sighed in relief except for the girl who kept wiggling against her ropes and tried to speak but the ropes around her mouth prevented her from making any noise.

"Good, go to sleep, snakes"

Micheal watched them from above and felt like the predator from the movies.

"If I only had my sniper or an assault rifle with a silencer"

"Does the host really plan to kill those snakemen?"

The system's voice appeared in his mind

"You do give badass points and rewards for killing them right?"

"Yes"

"Then there's your answer, I need to earn points and experience somewhere, why would I waste such a great opportunity like this? Even if things went south, I have a healing potion"

"Good"

"Huh?"

For a moment, the system sounded actually human in his mind but that feeling disappeared quickly.

Considering the branches of the tree were long and big, Micheal slowly jumped branch to branch like a monkey and checked the perimeter to see if there's another group of snakes on their way.

While looking at the group, Micheal witnessed Datra creating fire from his hand. A stream of fire flew out of his hand and fired up the bundle of wet wood.

"Cool Magic"

Micheal's eyes sparkled looking at this because this was the first time he had seen such a thing in real life.

"System, can I do that?"

He asked the system in his mind as the system showed him a red color card.

Skill name: Dragon fire

Class: Offensive type skill

Function: Host can send a stream of dragon fire from his hands

Range: small

Current Level: Level 1

Next Level: The range and the intensity of the fire will be increased, the host can use both hands at the same time to send the fire stream

Price: 600 badass points

"I must buy this"

A wide grin appeared on his face and he felt more motivated to kill these snake men and earn more badass points.

In his line of work, patience was crucial so he trained his mind to replay a movie whence he wants. And after replaying a couple of movies, the snakes started to hiss which seemed like a yawn and the forest grew darker and darker as only the campfire and the flashes of lightning provided light.

He blended perfectly with the tree like a chameleon because of his black robes and dark environment.

"We'll take the first watch"

Datra said and looked at the other cobra headed man.

"Fine with us"

Micheal was surprised that they didn't put anything under them like a bedsheet or blanket as they went to sleep on the wet ground.

After a few minutes, the snakes started to snore without minding the sound of thunderclaps while Datra and the other one kept watching the girl.

Micheal was waiting for them to look away from each other, so killing one wouldn't alert the other but after waiting for some time, they didn't seem to budge from their positions.

"Small distraction would do the trick"

He looked at the tree behind Datra which had a huge stem that would block the other snake's sight if he kills Datra.

Planning his next move, he leaped towards another branch and appeared right above Datra's head. He cut a small stick from the tree using his knife that felt like cutting a banana with a hot knife.

"Thup"

Micheal threw the stick behind the tree as Datra and the other snake quickly startled by the noise.

"Go, check it"

Micheal waited for one of them to go behind the tree and just as he thought, Datra, the leader himself stood up to check it.

"Watch her, I'll go check it"

The other snake nodded and kept his glance at the girl while Datra slowly moved towards the ideal place where Micheal planned to jump down and stab the knife straight between the eyes.

He was glad that at least Abras learned the weak points of several species from one of the elders in the sanctuary as a part of his training.

"Diddle diddle we are so"

Step by step, Datra reached the point where the other snake wouldn't be able to see him.

"Little"

Just as he said, he jumped down from the branch and stabbed the knife between Datra's eyes. The sound of the thunder clasp and Micheal's perfect athleticism reduced the sound of his landing.

Even after stabbing Datra, his body violently shook but Micheal used all of his strength and held his body against the tree until he stopped moving.

[Ding! Congrats to the host for killing a Body refining stage, level 10 cultivator. The reward is 7000 experience points as well as 200 Badass points]

He had no time to celebrate as his full focus was on killing the rest of them.

So before the other snake got suspicious, he swiftly moved towards the next target using the bushes and darkness as cover.

"Da"

Just when the other snake opened his mouth to call for his friend, Micheal came behind him and sent his Knife through his forehead, and dragged him away from the campfire and the sleeping snakes.

The girl's eyes widened in shock and surprise seeing the turn of events but she didn't make any noises that could alert and wake the snakes up.

[Ding! Congrats to the host for killing a Body refining stage, level 8 cultivator. The reward is 6000 experience points as well as 250 Badass points]