"Are you okay," the girl next to me asked.
I hadn't known that she was a girl until she had spoken to me. My head snapped up as I leaned into the wall of the bus, and looked at her.
"Yep," I sounded painfully guilty.
I swallowed, and inhaled deeply as she stared at me with a bit of concern.
"I'm fine really, " my voice leveled out, "Just really nervous."
"Good," she turned her head away going back to ignoring me, "Cause it looked like you were going to throw up."
I didn't bother saying anymore. I had other things to worry about now. System, am I an Archaic species? I had to know for sure. I couldn't be in the dark about this.
Based on user memories System has determined that user is an Archaic species.
My breath hitched a little in my throat, and I flinched when the girl moved further away from me while shooting me a dirty look. She looked for an open seat, but there were none. If there was then she wouldn't have sat next to me. System, why do you sound like a video game with the levels, and the stats?
System determined that this was easiest for user to understand.
Great so the system thinks I'm stupid, but the system was right. Video game leveling was painfully easy to understand. System show me my stats.
HP 15
Strength 10 (reduced while camouflaged)
agility 10 (reduced while camouflaged)
stamina 10 (reduced while camouflaged)
instinct 5 (reduced while camouflaged)
damaged resistance 5 (reduced while camouflaged)
mana 18/30
Wait. Reduced while camouflaged? System, what does reduced while camouflaged mean?
Some stats are reduced by 50% when in camouflaged state.
System, are you trying to tell me that I was actually stronger as a tiny little dragon hatchling?
Yes. User is stronger in dragon form.
System, what is a dragon?
An archaic species. Current population 1.
I clenched my fist in frustration. System, tell me more.
System has been damaged, and is unable to elaborate in further detail. Current information based of users own memory.
The system doesn't know anymore than I do. Fucking worthless system. I sighed out of frustration as I clenched my fist.
Damage resistance higher than attack power. No damage taken.
I relaxed my hand surprised by the sudden notification. What attack? I looked down at my palm, and realized I'd been digging my fingernails into my palm. My stomach growled quietly. I glanced to the girl next to me to see if she'd noticed.
New quest. Eat meat. Reward 5xp.
New quest? I almost laughed when I saw what the quest was for. The system wanted me to eat? I reread the quest. It wanted me to eat meat.
Was there some sort of set amount I had to eat? I reread it again. I'm probably overthinking this. I decide to stop focusing on the system for a bit, and looked around. How long had we been on this bus anyways?
-2 mana
Wait why am I loosing mana? System why am I loosing mana?
Physical camouflage is currently active. -2 mana per hour to maintain.
System what happens when I run out of mana?
All mana powered abilities cease.
I swallowed as my heart up ticked. System show current mana level.
16/30 mana
I heaved a sigh of relief. I won't have to worry about that for eight more hours. I wanted to look at the time, but I didn't have my readout on my wrist anymore, and I hadn't had a chance to look for it back in my room. Guess I'll have to survive without it. Another thought popped into my head.
Would anyone question the fact that I left my patch, and false eye behind? I mean there weren't many one eyed kids around. Lets hope that I'm lucky enough that they don't. Hopefully since the manager was the one who usually cleaned out the rooms between tenants he would brush it off since I had clearly had two eyes when I'd left. I sank in my seat.
What would he think about the shredded clothes? They were clearly the ones I'd been wearing when he let me in the building. He probably wouldn't remember. I hoped. Even if he did remember he probably would drop it at me being gone.
I don't know how much longer I panicked before they started shooing us off the bus. We were ushered into lines based on our locations, and shuffled into groups of five. One kid from every location. After all these buses were just the ones for the five different school in this area. My group was made up of me, two guys, and two girls.
We were given uniforms, and ushered into an area with changing tents. Given five minutes to change, and moved onto the next step of orientation. We were given watches, and they all showed triple zeros. No rank. Nothing but zeros.
The next area we were ushered up to a class A ability user. Class A's were non combat high application ability user. Abilities like teleportation, technopathy, telepathy, and many more like them. Abilities that weren't made for a battlefield although teleportation could be used as a combat ability in a pinch. People with the ability to teleport were rare, but the distance of teleportation was what made it such a valued ability.
They didn't have a range limit since one portal would open right next to the user while the other would open up at the desired destination. They were basically limited to how many portals they could open. We were ushered through the portal to some kind of testing area. I felt my eyelids droop as I stood waiting my turn to do the tests. System mana level.
10/30 mana
Wait. I felt myself getting fidgety. When did I use so much? Five hours left didn't feel as good as eight. I wanted to get out of here asap.
"Wyatt Nix," I flinched when my name was called, but I came forward as asked.
"Abilities?" the guy hosting the test glanced at me over his clipboard.
"No ability sir," I wouldn't talk about my Archaic ability.
Especially since it was an illegal ability. All the other stuff that came with it was just extra incentive to keep my mouth shut. He checked something on his clip board.
"When was the last time you were tested?" he continued.
"Yesterday sir," I answered.
"We're going to test you're combat ability now," he motioned for me to follow.
We stopped in front of a machine with some sort of punching bag hanging down.
"Hit this as hard as you can," he pointed at the punching bag.
I hit it as hard as I could then looked at the little screen behind the bag.
"10," the clip board guy looked at me funny, "Stronger than you look."
We moved over to a short track. It was a given what I was supposed to do her.
"Ready," he lifted a timer up that had been hidden behind his clip board before, "Go."
I sprinted, but I was already tired so I just focused on running. I was panting heavily by the time I finished my lap.
"Not bad," he moved me over to the next test, "Hit as many targets as you can. Go."
I rushed forward. Picking up the gun, and taking aim. The digital display showed six shots. One for each target. I'd never handled a gun before so I quickly launched of six shots, and dropped the handgun shaped test gun back on the table.
2/6 targets hit. New skill. Marksmanship level 1.
I looked at the tester administrator as he wrote on the clipboard, and got ready to move me to the next test. System How accurate is my marksmanship?
User understands how to use weapon, and understands basics of aiming weapon. Accuracy Low.
Maybe the system wasn't completely useless.