Klaus lay in his bed, staring at the blue holographic screen floating before his face.
[Status]
[Name: Klaus Murrow]
[Age: 27]
[Level: 10]
[Trait: None]
[Skills: None]
[Strength: 20 > 25(↑)]
[Stamina: 24 > 29(↑)]
[Speed: 23 > 28(↑)]
[Perception: 20 > 25(↑)]
[Mana: 0 (Locked)]
[Stat Point: 20]
[Daily Tasks: 5/5]
I can’t even focus!
Due to his newly enhanced hearing, he could clearly hear the irritating whines and rattles of the rotating fan, causing his head to ache and his brows to tense.
He was annoyed. Very annoyed.
’If I knew I would have to deal with something like this, I would have preferred not to level up. I was doing just fine anyway.’
[Host, is your will so weak that you are willing to give up your dreams for some annoying sounds? I thought you were better than that.]
A vein throbbed at Klaus’s forehead. If he could, he would have driven a punch into its face, but something as soothing as that was simply impossible, so all he could do was ignore its comments. He wasn’t in the mood to argue with an unemotional bugged system.
He rubbed his forehead with his fingers, and suddenly, an idea appeared in his head.
"Ah! I can just do that!"
He sat up and pulled out his phone at once.
[Host, what are you doing?]
"I am ordering earmuffs," he muttered as he scrolled on Zmazon.
[Order? Host, what kind of company or people deliver items during the apocalypse?]
"Don’t distract me." Klaus shut it up and focused on searching for earmuffs that were both effective and good-looking.
[You don’t even need them. I can limit your perception to the upper limit of humans to stop the useless sounds.]
His finger halted.
He raised his gaze and looked straight at the system screen with a dumbfounded expression. His lips opened and closed a few times before he finally asked, "And why haven’t you done it already?"
Is this thing trying to get on my nerves?
[I thought you were into it.]
He stared at the screen with a speechless expression and asked in a low voice, "You thought that I am a masochist?"
It stayed silent for a long while, then the screen appeared.
[Host, I don’t really think. I only try to imitate the process of thinking.]
’Huh? Is it trying to change the topic?’ He furrowed his brows and remarked, "You just said that you thought I was into it."
[That is a manner of speech.]
"Is it really?" Klaus wasn’t ready to believe it. All the time, it said something and did the opposite of it, similar to it being impassive while always trying to get under his skin.
"Are you sure you aren’t a rage-baiting or gaslighting system instead?"
[Host, I am the great Apocalypse System. Do not missystem me.]
’Missystem it says. Just because you don’t have a gender, it doesn’t mean you can pull that word out of your ass.’
[I do not have an ass to pull things out of.]
"That is a manner of speech." He grinned. "Anyways. Make these sounds stop."
[Limiting Host’s Perception stats to 22.]
In an instant, the annoying sound of the fan disappeared, and Klaus felt his headache vanish.
’Finally!’
He raised his arms and fell on his back with a relieved expression on his face.
The bed rattled from the sudden movement, prompting him to ask, "Can you do the same for my other stats?"
[I can.]
"Hmm..."
A thoughtful expression covered his face.
’But I would have to ask the system again and again to unrestrict or limit me.’
A sudden idea appeared in his head, and he asked, while hoping to hear the answer he wanted, "Is it possible for me to set a keyword to place and remove the limits from my stats?"
[Checking for possible restriction...]
’Please...’ A sweat drop rolled down his face as he nervously waited for the answer.
[No restrictions found.]
[It is possible.]
"Yes!" He pumped his fist in excitement and stated, "Set keyword ’Bound’ for limiting stats to the upper human limit with input of specific stats and ’all’. Similarly, set keyword ’Exceed’ for removing the limit with the same possible inputs."
[Keywords ’Bound’ and ’Exceed’ have been added and stored!]
[A new information block has been added to the status screen: Artifices!]
[Status]
[Name: Klaus Murrow]
[Age: 27]
[Level: 10]
[Trait: None]
[Skills: None]
[Artifices: Bound, Exceed.]
[Strength: 25] - (22)
[Stamina: 29]
[Speed: 28]
[Perception: 25] - (22)
[Mana: 0 (Locked)]
[Stat Point: 20]
[Daily Tasks: 5/5]
"Haha. It worked better than I had thought."
Klaus grinned widely and whispered, "Bound strength."
The very next moment, Klaus felt his body become somewhat heavier for himself while lighter for the bed.
’I can feel that I am weaker.’ He clenched his fists and nodded.
Now he could focus on his status screen without any problems.
He furrowed his brow and asked, "Why is it still showing 5 out of 5 daily tasks instead of 7?"
[The changes will be reflected after the next daily refresh.]
"I see..."
For a moment, he had thought maybe it was also bugged.
"Wait!" He sat up and shouted, "I only got two stat points for going through all that pain?! Isn’t that unfair?"
[Host, your greed sickens me.]
Klaus narrowed his eyes. "Didn’t you say you don’t have any emotions or feelings?"
[I meant it metaphorically. The level up has already increased your stats by 5, giving you more than two free stat points would interfere with my balancing calculations, which you have already sworn to do.]
"I don’t know. I still think that you meant it literally," he said, not intending to let the system go.
[Anyways. I believe you should be careful.]
The instant he read that, a confused expression appeared on his face, and he asked, "What do you mean? What do I have to be careful of?"
[Host will understand it pretty soon.]
His frown deepened, and he muttered, "Just tell me what it is."