Binding the Persona System

After 007 finished scanning his status, it let out a piercing, data-generated shriek.

Its data heart died a little.

It looked at Lin Nieran, who wore a faint smile, had a gentle expression, and spoke softly, and could hardly imagine that he was severely ill! Was its system broken?

It had to be broken! It would send itself back to the factory for repairs later! Otherwise, why did its data body feel like it was heating up?

Lin Nieran was not surprised. In this world overrun by anomalies, there were far too many people with mental illnesses. You could find a handful on any street. He simply had a few more conditions than most and happened not to have died.

Only now could he truly confirm that this system was not another personality he had split off, but a real system.

It seemed he had stumbled into quite an extraordinary encounter.

Although 007 was deep in doubt, its system functions continued to run.

[Matching golden finger system...]

Lin Nieran watched the names of various golden fingers flash across the system's pure white interface. Every one of them looked impressive.

At last, the image on the system interface settled on a pitch-black card.

[Match successful! Persona System bound!]

As soon as the system voice sounded, the transparent white interface shook violently. Ink-black darkness swallowed the white and gathered at the center of the interface, forming a constantly spinning vortex that devoured everything like a black hole.

Curious, Lin Nieran reached out to touch the interface, but before his finger could reach the black hole, a powerful suction seized his fingertip. His vision went black, and he immediately pulled his hand back. The black hole seemed to be sucking out his soul.

A pitch-black pattern had also appeared on 007's white spherical body, making it look like a black-and-white electronic cat. It zipped in front of Lin Nieran, blocking his finger as he curiously tried to touch the vortex again.

[Host, this is your Persona System. You can draw from the card pool to obtain cards with different identities and abilities, as well as items such as props. Your performance with the cards can earn you Performance Points and Fame.]

Lin Nieran accepted it all readily. "Card draws? Do I have to personally play the cards I draw? Can I only perform as one identity card at a time?"

[No. You only need to separate a portion of your mental power and merge it into a card to control it. This is your ability as the host. Regardless of a card's identity or abilities, it will be under your control. They will never betray or disobey you.]

[These cards are you. You can have countless helpers you can trust, who will never betray you.]

Lin Nieran widened his dark eyes and exchanged a glance with the scowling masked young man beside him. Delight spread across his face.

This thing... seemed perfect for him!

The masked young man narrowed his eyes and swept a chilling glance over 007, which inexplicably felt a chill run through its body.

At that moment, Lin Nieran's mind had erupted into a clamor.

"Oh, what a magnificent ability! I wonder if I'll have the honor of trying it?"

"Could this be some novel anomalous object? I really want to study it."

"That sounds interesting. I feel like I could do lots of things Xiao Ran doesn't allow!"

"Hey, hey, you adults should give a helpless little girl like me a chance. I want to see the wonderful world too."

"Get lost. You tore my head in half last time."

The voices in his head were anything but quiet, but Lin Nieran was already adept at ignoring them. He asked 007, "How do I draw?"

[With Fame.]

"How do I get it?"

[By playing your Vests and eliciting positive emotions. The more people who know about your Vests, the higher your Fame.]

[But newcomers always get special treatment. I've already applied for a beginner's ten-pull for you. Want to give it a go?]

As 007 spoke, it finally moved its body out of the way of the black hole. A golden light flashed beneath it, and a line of small text appeared.

[Fame: 10,000 (limited to ten draws)]

One draw cost 1,000 Fame, so 10,000 was just enough for ten.

Without hesitation, Lin Nieran tapped the center of the black hole and silently willed it to draw ten times.

A deep rumble echoed from the black hole. His Fame balance instantly dropped to zero, and items spilled out of the hole one after another.

[Draw successful!]

He stared at the pitch-black card, his eyes wide.

"How much? How much did you say?" The man in bloodstained clothes jumped up, pointing at the serrated knife in his hand. "A hundred thousand for this knife? It can't even hurt anomalies. You might as well rob people, so why bother opening a shop?"

Lin Nieran lazily raised his eyelids and glared at the masked man behind the customer, who was itching to act. The masked man regretfully put down the dagger in his hand.

After stopping the lunatic, he clapped his hands with a smile. "Good idea. But don't misunderstand. You just played a joke on me, so I played one on you too."

The man remembered offering a hundred just now and smiled guiltily. For some reason, the back of his neck felt chilly. He glanced behind him but saw nothing.

He thought it over, then gritted his teeth. "A serious offer: fifty thousand!"

Lin Nieran clapped his hands, rose from his rocking chair, and produced a card reader in one smooth motion. "Deal!"

The man was shocked. Damn it, I should've offered less!

Having happily sold a weapon, Lin Nieran settled back down and continued lounging around, utterly content.

The 007 System had never seen such a lazy host!

It had just returned from visiting several other hosts, only to find Lin Nieran listening to music and dozing again, rocking back and forth in that shabby chair.

Had that rocking chair saved his life or something?!

[Host, aren't you going to make any progress on your task?]

Lin Nieran opened his eyes to see the black-and-white ball flying around in front of him. He casually pulled a stack of paper from under the table and took a pen tied to a string from a nearby drawer. "Isn't that what I'm thinking about?"

The first task 007 had given him yesterday was to earn 1,000 Fame.

According to 007, different people contributed different amounts of Fame. For example, if a powerful person who was already famous knew of him and recognized him, they would provide more Fame than an ordinary person.

If those people developed positive feelings such as "admiration" or "fondness" for his Vest, the Fame would be even higher.

By his estimate, earning 1,000 Fame would probably require 1,000 ordinary people to learn about his Vest and form an impression of it.

007 was puzzled. [This task is very simple. You only need to go out and walk around a few times using a Vest. Given the strength and looks of the system's Vests, it should be easy to achieve.]

Lin Nieran clicked his tongue and said to the little ball with a laugh, "And then what? What about the next stage of the task? Didn't you say you wanted me to save the world? Can I save the world with the Fame from this one draw?"

Seeing that its host had a plan, 007 decided not to mention that this task was generally meant to help newcomers get used to controlling their Vests.

[Host, are you planning to contact the protagonist directly?]

Right after signing the contract, Lin Nieran had understood what the system meant by "saving the world."

His world had undergone a tremendous upheaval ten years ago.