C4 – The System will Hang up
Qi Ning watched the Rubik’s Cube spinning under the light, its ceaseless rotations baffling him.
“Is this some kind of new magical gadget?”
To ease Qi Ning’s academic stress, his father, Qi Zheng, would often bring home entertaining magic props for him to unwind with.
Suddenly, after a few seconds of spinning, the Rubik’s Cube soared towards Qi Ning.
Instinctively, he shut his eyes, bracing for impact, but the anticipated pain never came.
“What happened?” Qi Ning opened his eyes, puzzled.
The Rubik’s Cube had vanished.
Then, at that moment, a strange voice emerged in his mind.
[Ding! System binding successful!]
[Ding! A glitch has been detected in the System. Commencing repairs.]
[Ding! An unexpected error has occurred in the System. Repairs underway.]
Qi Ning gazed at the desk lamp before him, a feeling he couldn’t quite articulate stirring within him.
“System? Idle mode? What’s all this about?” Qi Ning had never delved into online novels, but he’d overheard his classmates mention such things.
Through their discussions, he had picked up quite a bit about these online stories.
“Could this be what they call a ‘system’ in those novels?” Qi Ning wondered, awaiting further instructions.
But after a long wait, nothing else came.
“This isn’t right,” Qi Ning mused, attempting to summon the System as he’d read in some of the novels.
[The System is currently undergoing repairs.]
[Daily choice of skill acquisition is unavailable during repair mode.]
[Mission: Inaccessible due to repair status.]
[Points: Unobtainable during repair status.]
[Note: The System cannot be used normally while repairs are ongoing.]
[Guarantee: A daily automatic allocation of 1 point as a minimum safeguard.]
[Repair duration: 999 years.]
“What?” Qi Ning was utterly stunned.
Just a moment ago, he thought he had stumbled upon a treasure.
But in the next instant, he was met with disappointment.
Qi Ning couldn’t help but swear under his breath.
However, it was then that he noticed a tiny ‘1’ appearing at the end of the system notification.
He scrutinized it for a long while and confirmed the ‘1’ was indeed there.
“Idle mode?”
Qi Ning felt hopeful that this system might just be the key to changing his circumstances.
[Ding! Please select an idle skill!]
Qi Ning had been ready to experiment, but then he realized the system was actually operational.
Qi Ning glanced at his skills and was momentarily taken aback.
[Qi Ning]
Language: LV9
Mathematics: LV8
English: LV2
Geography: LV5
Politics: LV3
History: LV1
Physics: LV2
Chemistry: LV2
Biology: LV5
Language was his strongest suit, topping out at Level 9. This meant that none of his skills surpassed Level 10.
“What do these skills actually mean?” Qi Ning was still somewhat perplexed.
His system was evidently not like the others.
Since it wasn’t an intelligent system, he had to figure it out bit by bit.
“Let’s just try it.”
With that thought, Qi Ning selected Language.
[Ding! Session complete!]
Immediately after he made his selection, he heard the prompt indicating the session had ended.