4
As he finished, a loud chime rang in his head.
A glowing panel popped up in front of his eyes.
[Sin System Binding… Successful.]
[Welcome, Contractor.]
It blinked, then another screen showed up.
Name: Renji
Level: 1
Strength: 15
Agility: 13
Endurance: 14
Intelligence: 12
Charm: 20
Unique Skill: None
Renji sat up fast. "What the heck is this?!"
The queen smirked. "That's your dashboard. Those numbers are your stats. You've got my system now. With it, you can corrupt women by sleeping with them, and then when the system marks them, they change into succubi and become bound to you."
He stared at her.
She kept going. "Every woman you corrupt gets powers of her own. Their strength boosts you, and your strength boosts them. Basically, you can make an army."
"And I can make this army as large as I want?"
Her grin turned sharp. "Yes, princeling, there are no limits, you can have as many as you want. Then you can go back home, take your revenge, and claim your throne."
Then she vanished into the air like smoke.
The next time her voice came out, it was through the system itself.
⸻
Renji walked through the forest.
"Okay… now for shelter," he muttered. "I just need somewhere to hide from the cold and not get eaten."
"That seems reasonable," the system replied. "It should be simple enough."
Renji groaned, rubbing his face. "Simple isn't exactly my word of the day."
As he said this, he tripped over a root, nearly faceplanting.
Hours passed, and he had climbed fallen logs, shoved through bushes, and checked cracks in the rocks.
But every spot had a problem. It was either too wet, too small, or had too many bugs.
After a long while, Renji finally spotted a gap between two boulders. It was just the right size, and due to the edges around, it would protect him from crawling predators. The crunchy sand would also help warn him of approaching predators.
He walked to it and almost sat down when a hiss cut the air.
Renji froze and looked around, tracing the sound. He found it quickly, a black snake slithering across the rocks just a few feet away from him. Renji didn't think twice, he immediately jumped out of the place and ran outside.
When he had finally caught his breath, he muttered, "No caves tonight, I need other places."
"Smart. Caves can be traps," the system replied.
Renji let out a short, bitter laugh. "Traps and snakes. This forest hates me, the world hates me."
Another hour of dragging himself around and he finally found a huge tree with roots spread out. There was a hollow space at the base, just big enough to curl up in.
Renji checked for snakes, and when he didn't find any, he finally sat down with a sigh.
"This will have to do tonight," he muttered.
Resting against the trunk, he shook his head. "I didn't realize how much I depended on palace life. Servants, cooks, people who choose what I wore and how my room was arranged…" He sighed again. "Out here, I need to take charge… I'm practically useless."
⸻
Renjj was sitting at the foot of the tree. He had his arms around his sides and rocked back and forth gently.
His stomach rumbled with hunger, and he shivered slightly.
"You know, you can't sit there forever, right?" the system asked.
"What's the point? I'm hungry and I can't do anything properly by myself," Renji replied miserably. "I'll probably not survive the next two days."
"You need to stop sulking so much and get up from your sorry ass," the system replied. "If you don't actually look for food, you'd just starve to death."
"That's what I'm saying, I don't know how to find food," Renji replied with a groan. "I'm useless."
The system paused for a bit and then replied with a softer tone. "You're not completely useless, you know? You survived the assassination attempt. That was quick thinking."
"You saw that?" Renji asked incredulously. "Why didn't you come help me?"
"What's the fun in that?" the system replied. "Besides, I need a capable vessel, not one I have to save consistently."
"Right," Renji replied dryly. "Well, time for me to be a capable vessel and get some food."
He got to his feet with a small groan of pain, although his wound had mostly healed up by now.
He walked for a while, looking for any small animal.
He had only walked for a while before he spotted one: a small brown rabbit happily chewing grass. Immediately Renji saw it, his stomach rumbled harder, and he felt sharper hunger pangs.
"There's food," he said to himself. "I can catch it and roast it, it can't be that hard, right?"
He crouched low, moving extremely slowly and quietly so the rabbit wouldn't be scared off. As he got close to it, the rabbit darted forward.
Renji let out a disappointed sigh, but he wasn't done yet. He moved forward again, slowly.
As soon as he was close to the rabbit, he jumped forward, swinging his sword at it, but instead he tripped over a tree root and fell face-first into a pile of wet leaves.
His sword clattered to the floor with a loud clang.
"Spectacular," the system said dryly.
"I almost had it!" Renji protested as he brushed the leaves off his face. "I just slipped, okay?"
He tried again. This time he crouched lower, studying the rabbit's moves.
He followed it closely, jumping when it jumped, twisting when it twisted, but every time the rabbit was faster, and it always managed to avoid him.
His arms and legs ached, but he kept going regardless. Finally, he managed to drive it into a thick bush. The rabbit froze, unsure what to do, and Renji took advantage of the hesitation. He brought down his sword on it.
There was a squeak and a sickening squelch as his sword slashed through the rabbit.
Renji looked down at the bleeding, dead rabbit. "I got it," he said to the system. "Now what?"
"Now you eat it, isn't that obvious?" the system replied.
"I know I'm supposed to eat it!" Renji replied. "But how do I do that? I can't roast, I don't know how to make a fire, and I've never even skinned anything in my life."
"Well, then you need to find a woman to corrupt as soon as possible," the system replied. "Or you will starve to death."