Aiden opened his eyes at midnight for no reason.
The cabinet was dark and quiet. He pushed himself upward.
Jack was sleeping on the porch, which was a habit the hunter had.
His snores came through the door, reminding Aiden that he wasn't in another rundown building of the slums.
Instead, he was in another world, fighting strange monsters.
And even more… killing them.
The blade still left an imprint in his hand, as Aiden held it too tight. He had a few bruises as well, but nothing enough to warrant a red potion like the one Jack had.
It smelled rancid.
Aiden collapsed shortly after returning.
Something within him had been drained.
His best guess - his sanity.
Everything that had occurred was too strange.
But what Aiden found stranger, was his excitement regarding it.
An excitement… and a strange familiarity.
For the first time in his life, Aiden felt he was doing what he was destined to do - kill humans twisted by their desire.
"What am I even thinking?" Aiden muttered. "I might've been a thief and a liar, but never a murderer. But why did killing that human, releasing him from his prison and desires, feel so thrilling?"
A moment of silent pondering passed.
Aiden introspected for a while.
And then, he came to the beginning of a guess - he felt this way because he wanted someone to do the same to him. He asked the wish master to release him of his life, and he did the same to that creature.
That was the only reason that made sense to him.
"That's enough digging through my emotions," Aiden said. "I need to utilize anything I can do to survive."
Before he came to this world, Aiden didn't want to live anymore.
However, the wish master had fulfilled his true wish.
Aiden wanted to abandon that life.
Here, he could be anything.
"Open inventory," Aiden muttered, despite not needing to vocalize the command.
A window appeared.
Black.
Empty.
It had two rows, each with five slots.
Each slot devoured the surrounding air.
Aiden frowned.
"How do I put things inside?"
Intuitively, Aiden tried to click a slot.
The window disappeared.
A small light appeared on Aiden's outstretched finger.
Aiden flinched and retracted his hand.
The light vanished.
Then, he did it again.
This time, he directed the light toward a nearby empty bowl.
The light latched to the bowl.
Then, both of them disappeared.
Aiden's eyes widened in surprise.
He opened his window.
[Wooden Bowl (Used - Common)]
A single item now occupied his list.
Aiden touched the item, and two more options appeared.
[Add / Take]
"I can add another thing?" Aiden muttered. Then, he chose to add and placed the spot of light on the chair. The light disappeared, but the chair didn't. "Does it have to be another bowl?"
Aiden tried.
[Wooden Bowl (Used - Common)] x 2
It needs to be the same item.
"How many items?" Aiden questioned, but didn't have any more bowls. Thus, he rose from the makeshift couch and went to a nearby sack of potatoes. "At least the veggies are similar in this world."
His experiments began.
One potato.
Two potatoes.
Three potatoes.
Fifty potatoes.
A hundred potatoes.
And no more.
"A hundred of the same items," Aiden muttered. "But what if the items are large? Can I also place a hundred of them?"
Aiden began experimenting with the chair.
One chair.
Two chairs.
And no more.
"Huh?" Aiden muttered. "Is there a different limitation, like size?"
Aiden tried to place the couch.
Nothing happened.
Aiden tried to place a box filled with junk.
Nothing happened.
Aiden tried to place a bowl filled with water.
The light latched to the water, and both of them disappeared.
The bowl remained.
When Aiden took out the water, the light became a faucet to let the water out into the bowl - something that Aiden expected and prepared against.
The water tanks were on the roof, so his experiments regarding liquids came to a stop.
After some more attempts using objects of different sizes,
Aiden came to a conclusion that each slot had three parameters:
Size: one cubic meter, more or less. Capacity: a hundred. Item Uniformity: the same item in a single slot.
As long as these three parameters are met at the same time, Aiden could place anything inside his inventory. However, there were more experiments he needed to make, like uncountable items (sugar, sand, etc.), animate objects like animals, weight, and liquid capacity.
"This is pretty dope," Aiden said. "I have my own storage room, each segmented. Furthermore, I can see that there are transparent slots beneath mine, which means I can evolve this ability."
Aiden looked through his system and found it.
In his Interface Upgrades section, he found a new entry.
[Inventory Upgrade] - [Locked]
[Interface Skill: Enhances your dimensional storage, granting greater item diversity, adaptive capacity, and intelligent retrieval.]
[Cost: 50 VOID]
[Requirements: You must have fulfilled at least one wish.]
"Oh, I have enough points to purchase this," Aiden muttered. "But I don't meet the requirements. Didn't I fulfill a wish?"
Aiden opened his wish log.
[Desire Fragment: Rabbit Jack] - [Unfulfilled.]
[Desire Fragment: Elias Mourne] - [Released.]
"The two of them have different labels," Aiden muttered. "It seems that releasing a wish isn't the same as fulfilling it."
Aiden was a little disappointed.
"Do I need to go around and help-" Aiden almost vomited a little. "Let's not think about it. I can't even imagine myself doing it."
Aiden saw many people act as saints and help others, only to reveal themselves in the back alley and brothels. He realized that no one helped others without an ulterior motive.
Not even Jack.
Aiden was still wary of the quirky hunter.
"Oh, why is this blinking?" Aiden muttered.
He clicked on the wish log for Elias Mourne.
The next instant, his vision blurred.
Then, he found himself in a training yard - wooden dummies, weights, swords, and disciples sparring each other. Aiden found himself standing next to a young man with laser-sharp focus.
He wielded a sword with both hands.
His movements were graceful and elegant.
Each arc seemed to lead to the next.
None of the others bothered him.
But they did whisper his name - Elias Mourne.
Aiden realized that no one could see him nor touch him.
He looked at the young man, whose wish had turned him into a monster.
Then, he was engrossed in his technique.
Day turned to night, but Elias was still doing his sword-dance.
Aiden couldn't stop himself from admiring this young man, who wasn't a lot older than him.
His dedication to training was respect-worthy.
Aiden approached the young man, or the memory of his training, and found himself passing through him.
A sudden urge bloomed in his heart.
He wanted to execute this sword-dance, even for just once.
The moonlight illuminated the empty training yard, as Aiden merged with Elias's body.
Then, the two of them moved as one.
Once.
Twice.
Aiden couldn't keep up, but he wasn't discouraged. He found himself enjoying the training regimen, because he had Elias as a guide. The moment their bodies didn't align, Aiden knew he made a mistake.
An unknown amount of time passed.
Dawn broke through the horizon.
Then, Elias stopped.
He looked at the rising sun.
And then, he turned around and left.
The vision shattered like glass.
Aiden snapped his eyes open, finding himself in the old cabinet. Sunlight was breaking through the fortified windows, casting blades of yellow on the ground.
A long breath escaped Aiden's lungs.
Sweat was dripping from his forehead.
A window flashed in front of him.
[You have learned the Moonlight Dance (3%)]
[You may acquire the technique once you master it.]
[You may access memories of fulfilled or released wishes to learn some of their greatest knowledge and witness what they excelled at doing.]
[The duration of accessing the memories depends on your Essence attribute.]
[The frequency of accessing the memories depends on your Recovery attribute.]
[The details of memories depend on your Mind attribute.]
[The execution of the learned memories depends on your Physique attribute.]
Aiden blinked.
"I can learn things like this?"
It was another reward; other than the points he had no use for - at least at the moment.
The Wish Log no longer felt like a prison.
It was a gateway of potential.
A shortcut for Aiden to master numerous arts and become unbeatable.
If there was one thing he learned about this world, it was this: he needed to grow stronger in order to survive.
Jack told him stories that terrified the strongest of hearts.
Aiden wanted to prepare for the horrors that this world bellied.
And even more, set out to conquer them.
"As long as I have this system," Aiden muttered. "Nothing is impossible."
His excitement died down when he remembered how he could grow stronger.
Granting wishes to people.
One of his core beliefs was that hell is other people.
And now, Aiden needed to walk through hell to conquer it.
Sounds came from outside.
Jack opened the door, letting a burst of sunlight shine down on the living room and Aiden inside it.
He took a sweeping look around the living room, which Aiden had placed back in order earlier - except for one thing.
"Where the fuck are my potatoes?"