As she thought about inventorying her skills, a holographic terminal screen popped up before her.
[Name: Aida (Weakened State)
Age: 25
Title: Host of System, Time Blood Master
Class: Variant
Skills --
Time Changing Blood: Blood can be used to return items to optimal state. When blood is ingested, it creates a Master/Slave bond between host and the consumer of the blood.
Nothingness (Self Induced): User has a chemically induced state that can allow Enraged to ignore user's presence and allow the user to be completely unfeeling. User is advised to practice extreme caution when using this skill.
Variant Skills:
System: Ultra rare and super brilliant OP system that knows everything.
Psychic Scan: Overlays 3D map with objects and people. User's current range is 5 meters. Can be boosted with the presence of Xiao Ai to 20 meters.
Electric Discharge (Cannot be used in weakened state): User can discharge electricity onto people and items.
Consume (Cannot be used in weakened state): User can consume electricity and convert it into energy.]
Aida was speechless at the sight of the con system's description of itself. Can it not be so obviously biased?!
Aside from that, Aida was interested in this new terminal. Wasn't this the infamous character window? She had previously investigated, but the system hadn't been able to pull up this screen before. Thinking this, she asked the system silently, "Why are you able to pull up this information now?"
[System is OP]
"..." Aida had been defeated by the con system's shameless response.
Thinking about it a little further, she finally understood based on the mechanics of the system. Because it acted as an on-premise system, it had no access to outside information beyond what she had seen and experienced. For this reason, the system took longer to collate all the data points that she had experienced and extrapolate the data that had been provided. She suspected that as long as she continued to explore and study different Variants, the system would soon be able to assign levels and other data points for the people around her as well.
Aida then curiously turned to look at Xiao Ai's stats, wondering if she would be able to access them. To her surprise, she was able to.
[Name: Xiao Ai
Age: 8
Title: Creator of System, Master of the Virtual World
Class: Variant, Bun
Skills --
Virtualizing: (Information is locked)
Hacking: Xiao Ai is a world class hacker.
Variant Skills:
Electric Discharge: Xiao Ai can discharge electricity and launch it at targets.
Gluttony: As the name states, Xiao Ai can consume electricity with no limit and convert it into energy. This is a higher tiered version of User's consume.]
Aida and Xiao Ai both had the same powers, but they manifested slightly differently. Aida could only attach electricity onto items while Xiao Ai could launch the electricity directly as an attack.
Aida was also surprised to see that the information about virtualization was locked. She suspected Xiao Ai's situation was similar to her own weakened state. She continued to poke and prod Xiao Ai with fervor, wishing she would wake up soon. She had an idea on how to wake Xiao Ai up from her coma, but had to wait till they got to their next stop before doing so.
The other thing that caught Aida's eye was one of Xiao Ai's titles…. Creator of System?! The con system means to say that her very own daughter was the one that made her keep going through all those punishment tasks?!
Cracking her knuckles, she had an eerie smile on her face as she approached the innocent looking Xiao Ai who continued to sleep completely unaware. Sighing, Aida ended up helplessly poking her daughter on the face, "If only you were less cute…"
A few hours later, they decided to take a break for lunch. Aida noticed that the white dot that showed up on her scan was still keeping pace with them. Stopping the jeep by a nearby gas station, they refueled the tank. Light had thoughtfully prepared sandwiches for them to eat. The day was cold, so they decided to eat inside the gas station's store. Having learned their lesson from the previous time, Aida smoothly helped them clear the store before they went in.
They split up to gather more supplies. Aida casually grabbed the gummy worms from the store and also picked up an instant pot as well. Although she couldn't use her powers right now, eventually she would recover them and they could have nice and warm food no matter where they went.
As they hopped back onto the jeep, the twins were getting bored. Light continued to meditate with a mental fortitude that surprised Aida, so she assigned Ace to entertain the kids instead. Afterall, he wasn't going to do anything productive anyway.
During this time, she had actually been thinking about what to do with Ace. He didn't quite fit in with the group and wasn't combat ready. She didn't want to see him injured in the crossfire between her and the organization. Additionally, he was still human, so perhaps he would be able to slip into the city and acclimate himself there. She had already overturned his life with all the complicated issues that kept coming up, she didn't want to keep dragging him into her messes.
She watched on as the kids (including Ace) sang songs, played games and chatted happily. As they drove through the empty roads, they encountered a few people who wanted to hitchhike. They had their thumb out, requesting a lift, but Lucifer was smart enough to circumvent them. In times of need like this, human's survival instincts kicked in and if they stopped, they would probably get robbed instead.
There was even a woman who decided to lay flat on the road, acting as though she was in pain. Lucifer just continued to drive on without batting an eye and she almost got ran over. The woman avoided the car at the last moment and immediately got up from the floor, cursing them with all her might. Shortly after, they saw many other men hop out from the two sides. It seems they were planning an ambush.
Soon enough, night was falling and they had to find a place to stay. Unfortunately, they were currently in the middle of nowhere, so they would just have to make do with sleeping outdoors for the night. Since it was winter, the temperature dropped significantly once the sun went down.
They split up the workload again. Light was in charge of prepping the food, Lucifer and the others went out to get firewood, and Aida ran the perimeter to survey the area. Because it was in the middle of nowhere, the map that she had downloaded into the system didn't have all the information on the terrain. By running around with the scan on, she was able to map everything out. She noticed that the white dot was still nearby, but it appeared to have stopped.
Jogging back to the camp, Lucifer had successfully started the fire. They had soup tonight to warm themselves up. Sitting on some straw mats they found, they looked up at the starry sky and sighed. Perhaps the virus wasn't the worst thing, had it not been for the outbreak, they would never have been spurred into camping.
Light suddenly got up and went over to the car. Poking his head out, he said, "I have a surprise for you all."
Everyone turned to look at him with interest.