"Ebony Magicka Shards, a pinch of Mirage Mist, a few spoons of Golden Spirit Grass-" Petya recounts the ingredients carefully as he adds it into the pot, mixing the concoction between intervals.
He's currently inside the workstation in his spare room, where the entire place is akin to a science laboratory. Fortunately for Petya, those thugs didn't touch his precious work room.
The walls are lined with cabinets filled with unknown substances and materials, and situated on the main island are pill furnaces, large stoves and multicoloured liquids stored in glass beakers.
The apartment is open plan so the kitchen is shared with the living room. On the living room tv, a history documentary is playing.
The window and door to the spare room is wide open to ensure that any fumes can be ventilated out, so Petya is able to hear the contents playing on the tv clearly.
He likes to learn about the past, about what happened, and why things are the way they are now.
Even though life right now is all he's ever known, he still wonders what Earth was like, in another place and time.
"…third world countries suffered the most. Throughout the duration of the war, these people were unable to protect themselves…
"…there was no secure supply of food, their only crops had been destroyed by alien debris and bodies… there was no shelter to protect them from explosions…
"…the overall instability of these communities resulted in even higher risks of disease, malnutrition, suicide…
"…the death count of citizens of third world countries is estimated to be around 3 billion, making up half of the total global number…"
"3 billion…" Petya murmurs to himself.
Right now, there's around 2.5 billion people in Katafygio, and around 500 million on Mirror Earth.
If the population growth stays this way, the sectors might get overcrowded soon.
Migrating to Mirror Earth isn't even a possibility for people like Petya, who's just a normal civilian that can't even protect himself.
The Union could always build more sectors, but they're focusing their efforts and money on Sanctuary Alpha on Mirror Earth instead.
"Almost..."
Petya's mixture is nearly finished, and he pours the liquid into a flask, simmering it gently over a blue flame.
Because his herbs were destroyed, he had to substitute them for another ingredient. He's silently hoping everything will turn out alright.
Once the substance becomes completely transparent, Petya's about to turn off the gas when his apartment door is kicked down and two men enter his home.
Petya rushes out of his room. "Who are you guys? Where's thug 1 and 2 who usually come to threaten me?"
"They're busy." One of them says, spitting onto the floor. "Sorry kid, but you gotta go. Boss doesn't want any loose ends."
"W-what?" Petya's blood runs cold. "You… you guys seriously can't be thinking of killing me, right?"
Their silence says everything.
'Oh, f*ck.'
Petya reaches for his phone on the counter, but one of the men grabs it swiftly and crushes it in his fist with ease.
"Wanted to make a call?"
They laugh loudly, and the man opens his palm, letting scrap pieces of metal and glass fall to the floor in a miserable heap.
"Oops, my bad."
"…"
'My… my phone…'
When the men walk towards him, Petya tries to take a step back, but realises that he's unable to. His limbs are frozen in place.
'Damn it… a paralysis ability?!'
Before Petya can even think about what to do next, an empty alcohol bottle is smashed carelessly over the top of his head, stunning him.
He can feel a warmth spreading across his scalp, liquid trickling down his face.
Petya's paralysis is removed abruptly and the men chuckle as they forcefully shove his body to the ground, toying with him like he's a ragdoll.
Petya gasps as he hits his skull hard against the kitchen counter on the way down, vision momentarily going white.
He swears he heard a slight crack, whether it was the counter or his skull, Petya doesn't know.
The man kicks him in the stomach, knocking the air out of his lungs. A sharp spike of pain rushes through his spine, so overwhelming that it almost makes Petya throw up his lunch.
He can't even lift his head up from the ground or move his body, everything hurts too much.
"Tch, he's too weak. This is all it takes to kill him? The abilityless are so boring."
"C'mon, let's go. I can't be bothered with 'im anymore, just let him bleed out."
Behind him, the men's obnoxious laughter and footsteps trail away, leaving Petya motionless on the floor.
Man, that was too one sided. He couldn't even struggle.
While warm blood continues to ooze profusely from the fatal wound on his head, the concoction he left unattended seems to be having a strange reaction.
'Death wasn't on my schedule today, but I guess some things are unavoidable… I suppose I'll never find out what happened to my brother now.'
Thinking about Tyoma, Petya's heart grows cold. What if he returns one day, only to discover that their apartment is no longer theirs and his little brother is dead?
To lose the last member of his family, Petya doesn't want to put him through that...
'Tyoma… I'm sorry. If you ever come back home, I hope you can forgive me.'
The glass flask on the table bubbles and overflows with a mysterious glowing substance, seemingly about to explode.
[An improbable catalytic fusion has been formed.]
[The concoction of magicka energy and spirit essence has manifested a consciousness.]
[A divine omniscient entity is emerging...]
Petya suddenly hears a loud ringing noise echoing inside his wrecked apartment, a sound familiar to a phone notification going off. His phone is smashed to pieces, so it definitely can't be his.
Confused, his eyes flutter open. Petya's unable to turn his head around so he's left staring dazedly at the blood covered floor, wondering if there's someone else in the room with him.
'Where did that sound come from? Is it a robber? Ah, I guess there's no point in stressing when I'm about to die anyway… take whatever you want, just please don't look inside my closet…'
After that thought, Petya's mind goes hazy and light. He's distantly aware that it's because of blood loss, but all his body wants is for him to close his eyes and go to sleep. He's so tired.
[You are the first person to successfully create a Transcendent Spirit.]
On the table, the mixture fizzes and gradually begins to shrink back into the flask, emitting a faint mist.
The mist shimmers and swirls in the air, trillions of iridescent particles swimming together in tandem before coalescing into a large blue sphere.
The sphere floats above the now empty glass flask, invisible to the human eye.
Petya remains oblivious to the sphere as it expands in shape and surges outwards, sending out a shockwave of energy that envelopes his room, the entirety for Sector 19 and beyond in a veil of magicka, faint and fuzzy like static.
The sphere continues to pulse outwards a few more times before it calms down and returns back to normal.
[The Spirit has obtained new information.]
[...]
[The Spirit is displaying signs of unrest at their creator's current condition.]
[The Spirit does not wish for their creator to die.]
[In order to merge with a 100% success rate, the Spirit must undertake a new form.]
[Search commencing...]
[Searching...]
[Searching...]
[SYSTEM interface selected.]
The blue sphere floats towards Petya's body, inserting itself right into his forehead.
[Merge process initiating...]
[...62%...75%...89%...]
Out of nowhere- a pain so utterly excruciating, a type of pain that Petya has never felt so acutely in his entire life, pierces right through his head, as if some tangible force has speared his skull open with an ice pick.
In those few tortuous seconds of unbearable suffering, Petya promptly passes out.
.
.
.
.
.
.
[Spirit integration with creator at 100%.]
[Merge complete.]
*****
When Petya eventually opens his eyes, he's met with a blinding white. His head is throbbing, limbs heavy and throat painfully dry, as if he hasn't had a sip of water in years.
He groans and rubs his eyes, and when the whiteness eventually fades to give way to his surroundings, Petya doesn't know what he's seeing.
~~~~~
Name: Pyotr Ivankovich Romanov
Level: 1
HP: 82/100
EXP: 0/100
Credit Balance: -15,000
Strength: 10
Agility: 10
Dexterity: 25
Intelligence: 30
Temperance: 15
Perception: 10
Charisma: 3
Reputation: -50
Available points to distribute: 10
Lvl 1: Inspect
Analyse the components of any object upon physical contact.
Lvl 1: Eagle's Eye
Your eyes will see anything within a 50 meter radius.
Lvl 1: Shopkeeper's Map
After activating Eagle's Eye, new terrain is automatically registered onto the map.
Lvl MAX: Shopkeeper's Temperance
As a shopkeeper, you must remain calm and composed in the face of all types of situations.
36 available slots.
Empty.
Description: A subdimensional storage space for all your products and goods.
Level: 1
Dimensions: 5x5m^3
Empty.
~~~~~
Petya blinks rapidly and rubs his eyes, but even after that, the weird floating holoscreen that doesn't seem to be originating from any source is still there.
Huh?
"What the hell is this?"