Prologue
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Zi Yu stared at the computer screen in front of him, dull eyes blankly looking at the flashing colors in front of them. He was watching an online cartoon of something or another that had just randomly popped up on his homepage on a famous video-sharing site and he was bored. Completely, utterly bored. Today was one of his rare days off and he was unable to come up with anything to do. Hell, even on the days where he was busy he was bored.

His life was like any other working college student. He spent most of his time either studying or working on a low paying part-time job and his days off where spent relaxing as much as he could until he had to work again. All in all, an average life. And an extremely boring one. He wanted more in his life! He wanted to party and drink and even fall in love! But, alas, he spent all of his time studying in a field he had little interest in just because it would make more money in the future and worked at a job that paid little to help pay for his tuition.

What kind of life was this? Sure, he could forsake all of his hard work up until now to go out and get wasted, but even he knew how stupid of a thought that was. Zi Yu sighed heavily, eyes flickering in time with the animated character’s actions. Just as the episode was about to end, an ad popped up, blocking most of the screen from view, even dimming it in the background so that the ad was more prominent. Zi Yu frowned, pursing his lips in confusion.

Even if an ad were to pop up, it wouldn’t do that. His eyes scanned the words on the screen:

 

「 Do you wish to change your life? 」

 

「 Yes 」「No」

 

Zi Yu stared at those words, numb, taking a moment to process the information presented to him. Change his life? He rolled his eyes, scoffing at the ad. Even if he did, how would a stupid ad change that? He was about to choose ‘no’ and go on with his day when he paused, his mouse hovering above the option. Should he say yes? Even if it was complete garbage, anything was better than what he was doing now…

He contemplated for a moment before deciding on ‘yes’. Even if it were just an ad, it wouldn’t really hurt him either way. If nothing happened, then oh well, it didn’t matter anyway. If something did… well, he’d cross that bridge when he got to it. The click sounded and the ad disappeared, the cartoon resuming, seeming to have been paused when the ad appeared. Zi Yu waited for a few minutes to see if anything changed and, once nothing did, he pushed the whole thing to the back of his mind, ultimately forgetting about it.

Oh well. It’s not like he was expecting much anyway. Zi Yu spent the next few hours roaming around the internet, doing his best to satiate his boredom to the best of his ability before calling it a night and climbing into bed, slowly falling asleep. As his consciousness faded, a whirring sound resonated in his ears, the sound dying down slowly before a mechanical voice sounded in his head:

 

[Connecting… … … Connection stabilized. Combining with Host. … … … Binding complete. System 005 awaiting Host’s awakening.]

 

Zi Yu frowned, the sound annoying him. He groaned, blinking his eyes open. “Who…” Once his vision cleared, his voice died in his throat, jolting up and looking around.

He was no longer in his room. Instead, he was sitting in any empty plane of endless white. His eyes widened as he scrambled to his feet, slight panic setting in. Where was he? Was he dreaming? A ding sounded in his head, and the mechanical voice from before reappeared, sounding dull and monotonous:

 

[System 005 welcomes Host to the ‘Wish Granting System’.]

 

“‘Wish Granting System’? What is that? Who are you?” He demanded.

 

[To answer Host’s question, ‘Wish Granting System’ is a system which allows the Host the chance of obtaining any single wish of their desire after completing all tasks given.]

 

“Am I dreaming? It must just be some weird fever dream…”

 

[Please rest assured that Host is not dreaming. Host agreed to wishing to change his life.]

 

Change his life? What was this weird voice-thing talking about? Then, he thought back on the weird, cryptic ad that popped up on his computer. “Wait, do you mean the ad?”

 

[Correct.]

 

“Wait, that was real? I thought it was just a joke, or a scam.”

 

[Host has no need to worry. The ‘ad’ was indeed real and now Host has a chance to change his life.]

 

Zi Yu felt that his brain was about to melt. So, not only was that ad not a complete ripoff, it also bound him to the ‘Wish Granting System’ and gave him a chance to wish for any single thing after completing some tasks? What kind of fictitious settings were these?! Don’t take him for a fool! He sighed heavily, rubbing his temples. “Alright, har har, this has been funny and all but I’d like to wake up now.”

 

[Host is not dreaming. However, if Host wishes to leave before completing the tasks, that is allowed but Host will then unable to be able to grant his wish.]

 

“Wish this, wish that, what if I don’t have a wish?”

 

[Didn’t Host wish to live a ‘more interesting life’?]

 

Zi Yu frowned, unable to refute it. He did just complain that his life was too boring, after all. It didn’t make him feel any better about the whole thing, though.

 

[Host’s wish is too vague but, after completing all the tasks, Host should be able to wish for something to help with his mundane life.]

 

Okay, look, only he was allowed to poke fun at his boring life, alright! He didn’t need this system or whatever doing it for him, thank you very much. He sighed once more, feeling his fight drain from his body and just decided to accept what was happening. He couldn’t really complain; he was the one who clicked yes on the ad and he was the one who wished for a more fulfilling life, so he got what he asked for. “Alright, alright… So, what do I have to do?”

 

[Host accepted this much faster than predicted.]

 

“Yeah, well, is complaining really going to get me anywhere? Besides, it’s not like I had much going on in my life anyway.”

 

[Understood. In order to obtain your wish, Host most complete 10 tasks in 10 different worlds. How Host decides to complete them is entirely up to you but Host must complete said tasks in order for it to count.]

 

[In each world, the original soul of the body Host will take over will have already moved on and Host is able to live his life freely as them. Host will also only be given a max boost in a certain stat or area that pertain to the original soul’s interests or specialties. All other abilities will be set at 0 and are able to be worked on manually.]

 

[Stats worked on manually will be carried on to the next world while the one(s) that were maxed will be reset to the level they were originally.]

 

Hm… that all seemed really confusing. “For example?”

 

[For example, if Host took over the body of a person who either excelled in running track or wished for that as their profession, then everything in accordance to that will be maxed out, such as preferred muscle build and stamina. However, if Host wished to cook a meal, Host would be unable to cook even simple ramen without burning the kitchen and the skill would be improved as Host worked on it manually.]

 

“... wasn’t that too extreme? How would I eat then?”

 

[It is recommended in that situation that Host either eat outside food, have someone cook for him, or work hard on improving his cooking skills.]

 

Easier said than done, Zi Yu thought to himself bitterly. How was he supposed to work on his cooking skills then if he burnt his kitchen down? Also, he felt that the voice switched from referring to his as ‘him’ or ‘you’, and it was slightly confusing… Just how was it supposed to talk to him? “Alright, so what would the tasks be, exactly?”

 

[Tasks will be given randomly and will usually ask Host to enact revenge for the original soul or accomplish a goal the original soul was unable to do. Tasks will start off easy and then get harder as Host progresses through each world.]

 

Huh. Well, that should be simple enough… “Alright… So, how do I start?”

 

[Host can begin at any time. However, this system is obligated to remind Host that each world is a real world, as real as the one he came from, so he must not treat it lightly or as a game.]

 

Zi Yu frowned, “Who do you take me for?” In fact, Zi Yu had always been a weird child, even regarding stories books told as actual universes, where each character in it was just as alive and real as he was in their own worlds. He was always called weird for thinking like that, but he didn’t see the problem in it. Honestly, he thought it was weird for others to not think like that. “Whatever. Let’s begin, I guess.”

 

[Understood. Preparing first world… … …]

 

After a few moments, a bright light engulfed Zi Yu and he quickly fell into a deep black, his conscious slipping from him as he closed his eyes.

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