The current word Ilmarinen finds himself right now diverged paths from our timeline years ago, oncdthe humanity blessed, or cursed, it depends on your view, with system. People started to receive a magical HUD that gave them objectives, opportunities, power, money and much more.
Ilmarinen was born years later after this actually happened, but it does not really matter for us. He received his system when he was only 5 years old, and it made everyone to be startled! 'How could someone so young already receive a system? He must be a prodigy.' was what people said. But, this line of thoughts didn't extend for too long.
As time passed by, his friends got systems as well, and he was left behind by most of them. You probably are wondering 'Why?'. Well, Ilmarinen's system didn't work. He received his only skill, but it didn't work. He had a system that didn't give him quests, and the only attribute he could change, if he received a point, was [Luck].
He gave up once he became 16 years old, he gave up having a system. He got depressed and, little by little, he stopped interacting with people. He did his compromises and locked himself in his house, to not leave until he needed to eat, drink something or go to the bathroom. Of course, his family did not know this behavior of his and the change of attitude. He decided that he would spare them from being so embarrassed for having someone like that in their lives. He lived alone, with his parents permission, so they never really suspected about what was going on.
Now, Ilmarinen was 21 years old, standing 1.90 meters tall, he had a long, blonde and messy hair, that was barely tied up in a ponytail, with an uneven beard that was blonde, just like his hair. He had an impressively fit body for someone that was closed in his room during his younger days.
Actually, Ilmarinen decided to start working out when he was 17, because he believed that he could at least get a grasp of how it felt like to have a good system by having a fit body. In this exact moment, he was kicking a beer can that he had drank a while ago down the street, complaining about being useless, having a shitty system and his overall life.
The only money he had was the bit his family gave him and some he had from working in some informal jobs to survive, so he couldn't drink as much as he wanted, so he would drink a bit and walk through the streets all alone during the night and a bit of the dawn until he decided to go back home. Ilmarinen usually only did this on weekends or when he was unable to sleep.
As he walked down an alley that was normally empty, with only three exits, either from the way he came from, from the right or just going straight, and that was what he was gonna do, until he noticed a strange noise coming from the right, it was a really low and painful moan, with irregular timed breaths. He carefully approached the origin of the noise, prepared to run away depending on what happened.
When Ilmarinen turned the alley, he saw an injured bald, black man, in an expensive suit and with his head down. He probably have seen better days, the shirt he used was stained in red and he had injuries all over him, with his face covered in sweat and blood.
Ilmarinen didn't think twice and hastily approached the man, reaching for his cellphone. "Sir? Are you still with me? I'm gonna call an ambulance." He said fast, trying to stay composed. As he reached the phone, the man quickly reacted, grabbing his hand "Don't call... it... I'm as good as... Dead..." He said while trying to catch breath. He coughed really hard, making him spit blood. He wasn't in a good shape.
Ilmarinen got scared with the sudden reaction, and not only that, not call an ambulance? Did he grasp what situation he was in.
"No, sir, you ne-" As Ilmarinen tried to convince him, the man reached for his empty hand and put something on his hands. "Run." The man said, with tired, yet fierce, eyes, looking right into Ilmarinen's eyes. "But why-" As he tried to get answers, shots from assault rifles were fired and he could listen people heading to the alley he was in.
Ilmarinen understood part of what was going on "I wish the best of luck." He said and started to ran away as fast as he could. He had yet to process what just happened. Who were those guys? What was just given to him? It was the first time he had felt alive after so many years! Perhaps it was not really feeling alive, just the shock, being frightened for the shots and seeing an injured man.
...
After a time running, Ilmarinen found himself in a narrow alley that was far away from the beginning point, his head was fuzy. He placed his back on one of the walls of the alley and slowly crawled his back until he sat on the floor. "What just happened?" He said to himself, putting his hands on his forehead, he could feel the sweat dripping down his face. His body was hot and his heart was beating really fast.
As Ilmarinen touched his forehead, he felt something cold within his hand, so he slowly put it down, seeing a colorful crystal on his open palm. "And who you might be?" He said as he used his [Appraisal] skill on the shining rock.
System Enhancement Core
Uses: 1
Quality: Unkown
Description: A rare crystal, with few related cases of being found, is able to enhance one's system and its usefulness. Once used, it dissipates into nothingness. If the user is lucky enough to find another one of these, he won't be able to use it.
"System Enhancement? I've never seen something like it." Ilmarinen said as he tried to get every single angle that he could to see its appearance. It was indeed pretty, and could catch any man's eyes for how shiny it is. "Perhaps I could use it, if the man in suit was protecting it by giving away instead of using it, it is powerful enough for it not to go to waste. But why give it to a random person? Despair? Fear? I couldn't grasp which kind of people he was fighting against."
Ilmarinen stared it for some moments. Maybe he should just give it away for someone whose system actually worked, it would probably be useless for him, yet, he was attracted to it, like it was calling for him to use it. "Oh, well, it is not like it's gonna hurt someone if I use it." He said it, decided to use it, a pop-up appeared on the middle of the air.
[System Enhancement Core] is about to be used. Are you sure you'll use it?
"Yes." As soon as Ilmarinen said that, he felt a strong headache and quickly passed out, falling on the ground. Little did he know what was about to come after him. His life began to turn upside down when he choose to use such item that many would pay millions to obtain. It is not going to be easy, but it may pay off for his efforts.