Sylas didn't immediately rush into action, but first took a closer look at the system interface floating right in front of his face.
Instead of the usual blue screen used by most novels and games, it was pitch-black, with golden light shimmering in the corners and illuminating the screen in the form of words that he could understand. It looked a bit like the business card he used in his past life. Very noble and elegant if he may say so himself.
"So, uh, mysterious system, can you explain why I got here?" Sylas asked a bit perplexed.
Sure, the systems abilities and boons interested him as well. Right now though, he felt a burning curiosity. He wanted, needed to know how exactly he got here after his unfortunate obliteration.
Did every human on Earth transmigrate into their favourite fantasy world after death or was it random? Maybe a merit-based system that rewarded those who deserved it most?
If it was, then he felt relieved. The acknowledgement of his deeds meant that he had not fought for nothing, as he feared during the last years of his life. Maybe he had killed someone that would have been a real plague for humanity later on, and therefore accumulated a lot of good karma. So many different options.
[While I am not fully sentient and can not answer this question, my creator has left a voice-mail for you that may answer some question.]
'Wait, voice-mail?'
Just as the line of text appeared in front of him, Sylas also started hearing an androgynous voice in his mind.
"Hey Sylas, its ROB, you already know the drill, after all you have read quite some fanfictions. Now then, you might ask yourself why you have been chosen. Well, its quite simple actually...."
The voice in his mind made a dramatic pause, the tension increasing. The only thing it did to Sylas though was making his eyebrow twitch. 'Seems like this ROB-guy or gal is much more chill than I, or any other human on Earth, might have expected.'
"SO, the main reason is basically because you killed that Elon Musk guy. Ughh! Big mistake on my side to even create him. Not that I could ever make a mistake, but still. Really hated that guy."
"Though I know that you mainly did it for the money, I will still thought to myself: 'Uh, how should I reward him? That's a great service after all.' And then I had THE idea: I knew that you really liked this One Piece world and even dreamed of one day coming here, so I just made your wish come true."
"Ain't I great?!"
Seriously? Sylas was truly stunned. He had so killed so many bad people in his life and this guy was the reason he was reincarnated?
"Once again- you have done me a great service. Who knows what other annyoing people you might take out in this life *ahem* celestial dragons *ahem*. Oh, seems like something really, REALLY awful, got stuck in my throat, I apologize for that."
"Anyways, just do your best and have some fun. That's it for now. If everything goes well, then I won't have to contact you again. Though I will be watching you. So remember that before ever trying - you know what. How about you just explore the system for now and try to survive?"
After hearing the entire thing, Sylas was stunned. Of course he should be honored to talk to whatever being probably came closest to humanity's idea of a God, but this sounded more like his buddy Eric was talking to him.
'Wait, now that I think about it... How come I still remember his name but not even my own? Meh, doesn't matter now. Let's just forget about the audition with ROB for now and focus on more important things.'
"Now then, what are your main functions, system?"
That's the truly important stuff.
[My main function is rewarding you for successful assassinations. Once you have fulfilled all the criteria, you can choose rewards, like an increase in strength, Haki or even the opponents' Devil Fruit. Additionally I also give out missions and can display the general information of any person you come across.]
Hearing the features made Sylas' metaphorical gears turn faster for some seconds. From the way it sounded, the system was basically determined to make him pick up his old occupation once again. Not exactly something bad considering that he is already very practiced in that field.
'Just the fact that it can increase my Haki is already amazing on its own. After all that's the most important thing in One Piece, along with a powerful Devil Fruit obviously. As long as it reaches the top of this world, no one can stop me. But for now its probably more important to first get me back to an adequate amount of strength. No use thinking about Haki if I could get beaten by a ten year old kid.'
Afterward Sylas told the system to display his status, by simply willing it with his mind.
[Name: Sylas Letum
Age: 14 Years, 2 months, 5 days
Devil Fruit: None
Haki: None
Overall Strength: Civilian]
[Missions]
While it was about as bad as he had expected, Sylas was still slightly disappointed in the actual results. But you probably couldn't expect more than civilian-level strength from a malnourished, fatally injured 14-year-old.
At least the system didn't make up a completely new category for him, as was the case in most novels. Something awful like 'crippled infant that has not eaten for 2 weeks and got shat on by a stray dog with severe anxiety'. Or something like that.
'Lets have a look at the missions next.' Sylas thought. He had noticed that he was able to freely command the system through his thoughts, and was already sure that it read his mind the entire time.
'Kind of creepy if you think about it. Though it should be expected that an all-knowing deity would be able to read my mind even without attaching me to some system.'
While Sylas didn't like the mind-reading, he had decided to first tackle the issue of his lacking strength head-on by finding the best route to gain power as fast as possible. Though it most likely included killing someone, he still didn't know how exactly he should go about it.
[Main Missions]
[Open the mission interface for the first time (1/1)
Reward: Gun
Assassinate your first target (0/1)
Reward: Assassin's Cloak and Mask
Assassinate your first target with a strength of 10 Million or above (0/1)
Reward: Assassination Arts]
'It seems like those rewards are more of auxiliary nature. The fact that it says Main Missions at the top also indicates that there will probably be side-quests later on as well. Though it seems like I have not unlocked them just yet.'
Sylas collected whatever information he could from the little bit the interface revealed. It was in the nature of his job to always know as much as possible.
While Sylas was busy trying to gather more information about the mysterious entity or machine that had fused with his being, a round, night-black orb with a diameter of about 10 centimeters suddenly manifested out of thin air right in front of his face.
[Congratulations for fulfilling your first mission. All rewards can be stored in the system space.]
Sylas was shocked, until he remembered that the first quest had displayed a (1/1) behind it.
'Seems like this is the beginner's gift pack. As far as I remember, most chinese main characters need to go on their knees and beg for countless days until they receive one. I am clearly luckier. This system is even more generous than I initially thought.'
As it had often happened in the past, Sylas side-tracked a bit by thinking about novels, though he quickly got back to the black orb still hovering right in front of his eyes. While it seemed a bit boring, he felt like the systems main mission rewards wouldn't be as simple as they seemed.
But to be honest, a mysterious black orb that claimed to be a gun floating in the air didn't seem all that simple if you thought about it for a bit.
Upon reaching out his arm and touching it carefully, a string of information once again rushed into his head. This time Sylas didn't get as bad of a headache, as the data was much less than before, only containing the user manual of the weapon he had just been granted.
After going over the entirety of it, Sylas started chuckling like a super-villain about to reveal his trump card for no apparent reason other than dramatic effect.
'Seems like my hunch was right. The system truly doesn't disappoint with its rewards.'
The weapon he had just received was much more than just a gun. It could freely transform between 4 modes. A Sniper with a single bullet, an Assault Rifle with 30 bullets, Twin pistols with 12 each and a Shotgun with 5. After each round he would have to wait 5 seconds for the weapon to reload. But that's where the weapons greatest advantage would come into play- it wouldn't be that long forever.
The guns actually scale with his physical strength. The stronger he got, the higher the bullets velocity, power and range. At the same time its reload speed would also continue to decrease accordingly.
Another added boon was that he could equip a freely adjustable silencer, allowing for precise modifications of the weapon's noise. The only drawback was that a stronger silencer would result in a heavier loss of power.
'Seems like its time to start the hunt this evening.' While Sylas would technically need to work today, that obviously wasn't possible in his current state, so he decided to just take a day off. Unannounced.
While his boss would probably use that opportunity to deduct even more of his salary, he would no longer be dependant on those small amounts of money if everything went well today and in the coming nights.
'Now that I think about it, you seem to have mentioned some criteria for an assassination to count as one. What are those?'
[The first and most important one is that you need to strike unexpectedly. It doesn't matter if you strike first or even reveal yourself before killing them. Its just that your opponent must not expect the attack.]
'Well, makes sense. Otherwise it would not be an assassination after all. Striking first, fast, unnoticed and unexpected is what turns a simple murder into a carefully planned assassination. Ideally you would also add a masterful exit, but that's more of an added bonus.'
[The second condition is that you can only assassinate people with a Heart Purity Rating of orange or below.]
Sylas face turned into one of confusion. 'What's that even supposed to mean?' He asked with interest. While he had planned to protest at first- an added limitation was usually not much of a boon - this sounded like it would actually work in his favor.
[The Heart Purity Rating shows how kind a human is. It goes from Gold for the kindest humans over dark green, light green, yellow, orange, red and all the way down to black for the most wicked and immoral monsters that have ever stepped foot on this earth. Everyone with orange and below is a possible target for you, with red granting 1.5 times the rewards and black even 3 times.]
Sylas nodded approvingly. While this may sound like a leash put on him at first, it is actually an added bonus. In the past he used to always struggle, doing extensive research on his targets to make sure he killed no innocents. But now the system did that job for him and even rewarded him for taking out the trash.
At least if he assumed that it wouldn't just randomly generate those colors based on luck.
'By the way, what does a person have to do to be counted as someone worth killing?'
[The criteria is as following: People with orange Heart Purity will only act for their own good, killing and torturing people without batting an eye. Red ones will even go out of their way to make other people suffer, while Black Heart Purity means they were born just to see the world go up in flames. They are what religious fanatics would title as 'incarnations of the Devil'.]
[Anything Yellow or higher means that they generally look out for the people around them. Though while individuals with Yellow purity are able to hurt others for the greater good or their own survival, those with Golden purity will not be able to kill anyone, choosing to spare their enemies as long as they haven't hurt their closest friend.]
'Got it. So gold is someone like Luffy, Yellow is Nami, and Black would be someone like Blackbeard.'
'Seems like it won't be as easy to meet someone with Black Heart Purity. Though they shouldn't be all that rare in a world as depraved as the One Piece universe.'
Thinking about the atrocities being commited in this world each passing day filled Sylas entire being with determination. He had been granted this second chance to achieve what he never could in his past life. Cleanse the world of all evil through his own personal power. But for that he first needed to grow his strength and influence.
While clenching his hands and putting the Gun into the system space, he started heading for the door. It was time to meet the first stepping stone on his path to the top.