[Aham.]Seeing Bai AnLing was lost in his thoughts, the system did a synthetic impression of coughing its throat. The attempt went successfully as Bai AnLing"s attention was again focused on listening to it. Seeing this, the system once again spoke but in a gentler way or even slightly embarra.s.sed way, you could say.
[...Host, can you please stand up now? It"s hard for me to see you sit on the floor like this and you also might catch a cold...]
For the past half-hour or so, since Bai AnLing woke up and fell of the bed, he has been sitting on the cold, dirty tiled floor. Afraid its host will catch a cold the system spoke up, asking Bai AnLing to act reasonably.
"Stand up?"
Rather then seeing the logic in the system"s words, Bai an Ling was flabbergasted at them, not knowing what to make of them.
"What do you mean by telling me to stand up?"
Bai AnLing couldn"t help questioning the system"s motives in saying such things; Was it trying to add salt to the wound, finding his disability amusing?
[To use your legs and stand up of course...?]
The system answered his question, wondering what is so confusing about standing up and leaving Bai AnLing speechless. By all accounts, Bai AnLing was handicapped, unable to walk on his own two legs.
[What are you s.p.a.cing out over? You are in a different body now so you are no longer handicapped, why won"t you be able to stand up then?]
Bai AnLing froze at those words.
"A different body?"
[Yes.]
By now, his eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, so he was able to see much better then before. He slowly shifted his eyes to his feet, watching with intensity as he tried moving his toenails. One toe, then another, till in the end, he was moving all of them.
"Even if this is just in my mind, even if it"s not real, this is the best thing that ever happened to me...."
As he thought that and without him realizing, tears started running down Bai AnLing"s cheeks.
[You are crying, why?]
Emotions were still a bit new to the system as it was a new one that was created just recently, seeing its host cry suddenly was very confusing for it and it couldn"t understand why moving his toenails will make Bai AnLing cry.
"I"m just happy. I never thought I"ll be able to walk again..."
Bai AnLing wiped his tears and once again looked at his new legs, determined to do the most basic thing that he wasn"t able to do for over a year now; standing up. First he propped one leg, putting some weight on it, and when it didn"t give in he pushed himself off the floor with his hands till he was standing up on both his legs.
"I"m-I"m standing up!"
Bai AnLing exclaimed in excitement. Unlike what he expected to happen, his legs weren"t weak at all but instead filled with power and stability for the first time in so long. Bai AnLing did not know whether to laugh or cry, the intensity of the feelings he was experiencing at that moment was overwhelming.
[Ummm.....Host?]
Not wanting to ruin the moment for its host but feeling that it should soon get to the point, the system once again tried catching its host"s attention.
[In case you are wondering what you look like now, there is a mirror just ahead of you, on the wall.]
After finally earning Bai AnLing"s attention, the system suggested what it thought would be the next logical thing for its host to do; he must be curious about his new appearance after all.
"Oh, thank you for letting me know.... By the way... What"s your name?"
Suddenly realizing he don"t know the system"s name, Bai AnLing inquired. Calling it "voice" or "system" was too general in his taste.
[....I don"t have a name, only a serial number that I think will be too long for you to remember.... Would you like to name me? If not, "system" is also fine by me.]
"No name huh? Well I guess it is a machine in a way..."
Was what Bai AnLing thought as he heard the system"s words.
"Ok.... I"ll name you after my favorite boxer then, Vine. Is that ok with you?"
[Vine... That"s more then ok with me. Thank you host!]
The system"s voice was cheerful as it celebrated getting a new name from its host, the name Vine was just to its taste.
"Then that"s settled."
Bai AnLing nodded his head in confirmation, clapping his hands once as a sign to the end of the discussion, a cheerful smile on his face as well.