Panic washed over Rio's face as he shouted into the void, "What is this? Where am I? How do I go back? Where is my family?"

  Suddenly, the system popped up and delivered a startling message, "Your Ancestor has agreed to the terms of the Romos Blood System. You are now bound by his choice."

  "What is happening?" Rio asked, his gaze fixed on the message about his family. He expected an explanation but received an error instead. Then, just as he repeated his questions, he fainted.

  "THE FOOL RETURNS," the ground trembled in a vast, empty white land beneath Rio's feet. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO AGREE TO THE SYSTEM! You FOOL!" The voice that echoed across the land suddenly grew even louder, shocking Rio who thought it's impossible for the voice to get louder.

  "I told you not to complete the form! You forced my hand! There's an ongoing war, and you can't be on the wrong side! You've condemned your children and forced me to agree to Romos Blood System's terms so you could have it as well. You better appreciate my sacrifice!"

  "What sacrifice? What war? I DON'T CARE ABOUT YOUR WAR! I want my family. I want to be on my family's side!!" Rio responded with anger willing up.

  "FOOLISH YOUNG ONE!" The voice shouted again, but this time with a deep sorrow rather than anger. "You had the choice to stay out of this war. You had the choice to avoid the system as much as possible. The moment you agreed to something, you were bound to be used as a pawn."

  "Ancestor, just tell me how to get back to my family."

  "Your family is in danger, all of humanity is in danger. But you can't return there, and you can't take action just yet. The answer you seek is around you. When you are ready to understand it, you will be ready to do something about it."

  As those words were spoken, Rio awoke from his faint. "Ugh, what was that about?" He surveyed his surroundings and noticed numerous ruins around him, but he couldn't decipher the language.

  "System, what is this language?" he inquired aloud, but received no response. However, he couldn't help but notice that the language on the ruins closely resembled the language used in the terms of service, the same terms that all of humanity had agreed to without truly being able to understand it.

  It had been approximately 400 years since the Earth's system first infected the first human, leading to wars fought in its name and eventual world domination. Now, Rio found himself infected with something new, something he couldn't fathom, yet he was equally baffled by the other system.

  "System, do you operate similarly to Earth's system? Is what I read in books about it similar to you?"

  'The human features are the same.'

  "In that case, please activate the mode -the numbers go up- and show me my level."

  “Wait, that’s it? What about agility, durability, speed, power, strength, magic?”

  "Ancestor, did you bind me to a corrupted system? Not only am I bound to it, far from my family and home, but it's broken. What am I even supposed to do now?" Rio pondered, waiting for an answer. It took a moment, but then his body responded. His stomach growled, a stark reminder that he was tired, hungry, and thirsty. Lost in a world he couldn't comprehend, his new goal became clear: to understand his surroundings with his immediate priority being to securing something to eat.

  He began to scan his surroundings swiftly. He found himself in the middle of a desolate area, with only towering ruins as company. The ruins stood as tall as ten humans and encircled the spot where Rio had materialized.

  Once he stepped outside the circle of ruines, the moment he got few steps away from it, a sudden bolt of lightning struck him down to the ground.

  Rio struggled to get back on his feet after being struck by lightning. He realized that if he were still the same as he had been earlier that day, a regular human, he would likely be dead after being struck by lighting. The thought sent a shiver down his spine, intensifying his determination to survive.

  "Let's keep going. I need to move forward and figure this out so I can return to my family," he muttered to himself. However, with each step he took, his body ached.

  "Hey, System, is there a way to heal myself?" Rio asked, but there was no response. Undeterred, he continued walking, and as he did, he began to notice various plants scattered around him.

  Throughout his life, Rio had maintained a small medicinal plant farm, using it to heal animals as it was impractical to use actual health potions on them. Consequently, even in this foreign world, he felt confident in distinguishing between poisonous and non-poisonous plants. But before taking a bite of any unfamiliar plant, he decided to test out the system.

  "I think I have a skill for Detect plant. let's try ot"

  [Weed: it’s useless]

  Rio was pleased with the results. So he looked around and tried to detect every plant he saw with the system.

  From there Rio found many plant life and tried to detect what all of them were: including various mushrooms, some of which were highly poisonous, clover, trees, and a plant detected as a "corpse flower," emitting an extremely foul odor that made it difficult for him to get close. However, after a thorough search, he finally found a nonpoisonous mushroom. Famished and eager to regain his strength, he wasted no time and stuffed it into his mouth.

  As time passed, thanks to the mushroom and his continued efforts to explore, he managed to raise his HP to 7/11. Rio realized that his background as a herbal veterinarian could potentially help him heal faster.

  Carrying a bunch of mushrooms with him for future consumption, he pressed on in search of a means to expedite his recovery. After an hour of relentlessly scanning his surroundings using his plant detection skill, the skill leveled up, and he also acquired a general detection skill. His new objective was to find a water source, hoping that by following it, he might encounter other people. He held onto the belief that more people would bring clarity to his situation.

  When suddenly he received another popup message from the system

  [You are being tracked by a dangerous beast, the probability of death is high]

  [Quest: either defeat, or escape from the beast]

  To the side of the screen, he noticed that he had more unread quests. So he made a mental note to go back to that, but his first aim was to quickly find a place to hide.

  He looked around, and found no resources he could use to fight. So he quickly ran toward where he found the corpse flower and climbed a tree that was above the plant, hoping that the beast wouldn’t be able to smell him while he stood there. Amd while waiting for the beast to pass over, he noticed another message from the system.

  [Your ancestor has sponsored a weapon for you. You may now wield the Romos Blood weapon]

  [The weapon is now at level 1; its form will depend on your will]

  'What does sponsoring a weapon mean?' Rio quickly wondered, but he couldn't spare more time for that thought, as he quickly needed to form his weapon.

  “Can it be a bow?”

  As soon as he said those words, he closed his eyes and imagined a flaming bow. He focused extremely hard in an attempt to imagine a glorious bow that he had seen in books before, one with arrows infused with fire and poison, one with the strength to wipe out everything in its direction. He didn’t know what “the weapon will form depending on your will meant, but if it meant he could specify exactly what it would be, he didn’t want to miss the opportunity for a safe weapon from a distance.

  [You have unlocked an inventory; you can now find your weapon there]

  The moment he saw that message, Rio quickly withdrew the weapon. Once the bow was in his hand, Rio felt like puking.

  “This is the worst-smelling bow, I do admit that I was thinking about how terrible the smell is around here, but to think this is the result. I can’t use this; I myself can’t bear to stand next to it” as he was contemplating what to do, feeling weak from how strong the bad smell was, he saw a direwulf step in his direction, with no plans to stop, despite having a strong sense of smell, the direwulf was in a berserker mode, there weren’t any animals in the area, and the direwulf was hungry.

  Being faced to the direwulf, Rio held his breath as not to smell anything, then he aimed his bow.