His heart was banging inside.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Harder each time, faster and faster, like it wanted to jump out.
His breath came out quick, one after another, hot air spilling from his mouth.
His face turned red, glowing, burning. Drool slipped at the side of his lips, his tongue came out to wet them, and his grin stretched wider and wider, stupid and shameless.
But then suddenly—
Like a hammer fell from nowhere, it smashed his head and shoved him back to the floor.
[No Such Skill You Have]
His grin cracked. "H-huh…?"
It felt like his dream itself shattered into thousand of pieces.
It was felt like to him, just a second ago, he was lying on a soft bed with the dream girl of his life on top of him. Her lips on his neck, biting soft, whispering sweet and dirty words into his ear.
She said she would taste him slow. She would grab his ice cream, pull it out from the freezer, then lick it bit by bit. Slow. Savouring every drop of chocolate. Licking from bottom to top, slowly.
But then, instead of licking it, her mouth opened too wide, too sharp, and instead of licking she bit it, her teeth sinking deep.
The ice cream didn't stay smooth, it smashed, squashed into a messy lump, melting and dripping, the sweetness turning sour.
And when he looked back at her face—she wasn't the same girl anymore. Her eyes were blank white, her lips torn at the sides, teeth long and crooked.
Her skin pale like paper, her hair stuck wet on her face. Like a ghost sitting on his chest, chewing the smashed ice cream loud, drool running down her chin.
That was how it felt when the words [No Such Skill You Have] popped up in front of his eyes. His harem dream shattered, broken into pieces, his grin fallen apart from his face.
[Did You Even Check Your Stats?]
[Level: 1]
[Race: Demon]
[Note: At This Point Even a Slime Can Kill You]
Liu Yang slammed both hands on the floor, his face red from anger this time. "W-what the hell?! You mean I'm drooling about harems when I can't even fight a slime?!"
The System blinked again.
[Have you not read any novels? Or manga? From your own world?]
[First step is always the same. Call "System." Check status. Look at your level. Train. Level up. Then you get skills.]
[Are you dumb? Why are you skipping the whole script? Why are you jumping right to the end of the story like some impatient idiot?]
Liu Yang's mouth hung open. He pointed at the glowing words. "W-wait… so you're saying… I'm just… a tutorial noob right now?!"
[Yes. Right now you are nothing. Level 1. No skills. No power. No harem.]
He fell flat on the floor, arms spread wide, pulling at his hair. "N-no… no harem… my dream… gone…"
[Correction: You unlocked one new skill.]
His head shot up. "R-really?!"
[Skill Unlocked: Daydreaming]
[Cooldown: 12 Hours]
[Description: You can sit, or lie down, or close your eyes, and start daydreaming about girls. The dream will feel real, and your body will react real, and you can even reach the end without using your left hand.]
Liu Yang's face froze. His mouth opened wide. "W-wait… what the hell kind of skill is this?!"
He pointed at the System, his voice shaking. "T-this isn't a cheat skill! This is just public humiliation!"
[Reminder: Not All Skills Are Combat Skills]
[Congratulations, with this skill you can finally use both hands for eating chips.]
[Now shoo shoo. Get out from the cave and go grind levels.]
The glowing words floated in front of him, blinking, almost like they were swatting him away.
Liu Yang's mouth twitched. "W-wait… what? Shoo shoo? You're talking like I'm some stray cat!"
[Correct. Right now you are even weaker than a stray cat. So move.]
[Go outside. Grind. Kill weak monsters. Level up. Get skills. Only then you can even dream about building that harem you keep drooling over.]
Liu Yang sighed. His hands dropped to his sides, his eyes rolling up. "So… if I want the harem… I really gotta go farm mobs like some newbie noob…"
[Correct.]
He looked around, then took a deep breath, then let it out slow. His chest rose and fell like he was calmed himself.
Since the moment he woke up in this same look alike demonic body, he had been talking nonstop with the System and daydreaming of harem.
So much talking he forgot one thing—he didn't even know where the hell he had woken up.
"I guess… I need to go outside," he muttered.
The place around him was a cave. A deep cave. He was standing far inside, where the air felt heavy and damp.
So he started walking. Slow steps, his eyes rolling left, right, up, and down. It was like a long tunnel, straight, narrow, stretching on forever.
Dark. No light. Not even a flicker.
No fire. No torch. Nothing. Just black all around.
If he was still human, he would trip and die in five steps.
But his eyes were demonic eyes. Eyes that could see in darkness.
An innate skill of demons, the Night Vision skill. With it, he could see in the dark as if it were day, every shape and edge standing out clear.
It was sharper than human sight, not just normal vision. It was closer to seeing heat than light, almost like an invisible layer of the world was open only to him. The walls, the rocks, even the smallest cracks, nothing could hide from those eyes.
His footsteps echoed.
Clap.
Clap.
It was loud in the cave that it almost sounded like someone else was walking right behind him, but no, it was just his own feet slapping the stone.
He muttered to himself, "Oh my god… how long is this tunnel anyway?"