"One's true intentions are revealed when they are on the verge of death." A man loomed over Eli's unconscious body, speaking in a heavy voice.
It was apparent that the man speaking was old, for he had wrinkles and chalk white hair, the unpigmented hair grew down the sides of his face, joining with his lavish beard. Another discerning factor was that he had an incredibly well toned body, that was only further accentuated by the tailored business suit he donned. These factors, coupled with the multitude of scars painting his body served to make him look like an extremely buff Santa.
The man knelt down, opening his hand to reveal a black computer chip with electronic lines patterned all over it. As the chip drew closer to Eli a light blue radiance began emanating from those patterned lines, extending two fingers onto Eli's forehead he pressed the luminescent computer chip against the unconscious boy's temple.
Once the chip had touched with his skin, the same patterned lines were revealed, spawning from where the chip made contact, seconds later it began to integrate with his body, moulding with his flesh, disappearing without a trace.
"If I may leave you with some parting words young cub, do not forget to be kind, but do not be naive for too much kindness will surely get you killed." The man heaved upwards and grabbed the paper bag full of the prescription with a sigh, raising a phone to his head and promptly leaving.
"Mhmm, that's right, I've found a suitable successor, please ensure he receives treatment."
….
Eli began phasing in and out of consciousness for what he felt like was seconds, in actuality it had been over two days.
[Transmigrating process: 78%]
[Analysing...]
"He's lost too much blood, he should be dead, please treat him immediately!"
[Medical treatment is being applied]
[Progress: 34%]
[Sufficiently Healed]
"He lived!"
[Unique Trait prerequisite match: Unlocked- Adaptability]
[Autonomous skill prerequisite match //ERROR// Level too low]
[Level 6 required]
….
Eli awoke to find himself in a hospital bed, staring at a white ceiling, slowly his eyes adjusted and as he raised his head he was greeted by an AI interface. Panic was the initial reaction and he pressed his back against the frame of the bed, he noticed the interface did not move. His next instinct was to touch the interface, swiping it with his hand. Eli's fingers passed straight through as if it was a hologram, the intangibility calmed him because he felt no immediate danger. Upon closer inspection the interface closely resembled that of the Virtual Reality games menu, Nebula.
Despite this, there was one thing that caught his eye. Underneath his name the menu displayed-
[Race: Superhuman]
-this stood out to him for two reasons, one it was a race he had never heard of before, but more importantly two, it was suggesting that he was this race.
He heard a groan and the interface immediately closed as his attention was diverted elsewhere. The noise originated from the side of his bed, a black haired girl was gradually opening her eyes as she was steadily waking. After a few seconds something clicked in her head causing her to lunge forward wrapping her arms around Eli.
"Big brother! You're awake!" The erratic movement had resulted in the crutch that was propped up against the side of her chair to fall to the floor.
"Faye, you shouldn't be out of the house, what are you doing here?" Questioned Eli, he clearly valued her safety over his own. This remark triggered her to fall back and pout.
"To see you of course" Faye looked down at her lap when she spoke, she was already well aware that Eli prioritised her, however the constant reminder that she was ill only served to make her feel more like a burden.
"Oh crap! Did you get the meds?"
"Yes, I did." She said with a smile, pulling out a small orange cylinder out of a black leather pouch that rested on the floor beside her as undeniable proof.
"How are your pains?" Eli probed in a gentle voice, not even thinking about the situation he was in.
"Eli." Faye's entire demeanour had shifted slightly, irritated by the altruism of her brother. "We're in the hospital for you, we don't need to talk about me."
He nodded.
"Our parents?" Eli queried in a much more formal voice. The tone he used made it sound like he was referring to strangers.
"They did come, but they left yesterday after they were told you were going to make a complete recovery." Faye would not meet his gaze. Eli fell back against the bed frame letting out a sigh.
"As expected." After the passing thought he raised his top to examine his wound, it had already closed up, leaving a small scar in his lower abdomen. He furrowed his brows.
"How long was I out?"
"Just over two days." Faye looked puzzled as she noticed the concentrative face that Eli was wearing.
"How odd. Did they use some experimental treatment?"
"I don't think so, why do you ask?" Faye still looked puzzled.
"No reason." Eli cleared his throat, he thought to himself there's no way a wound like that would have recovered already, that's when his mind flipped back to the AI interface. 'Superhuman' he pondered. Eli shook his head. 'Nah I was just in shock and I wasn't seeing right, I must've been half asleep.'
It was clear to Faye that he was holding something back, but she did not push for she respected Eli too much.
When Eli had thought back to the interface, it opened up in front of him again.
"Woah!" Eli jumped back again, jolting Faye as well. She stared at Eli waiting for him to speak, all he did was point at the interface hovering in front of him, to Faye this looked like he was pointing into the air, and she turned her head to look at the wall opposite Eli.
'Righttt, she can't see the menu. Maybe I'm just going mad.' Eli now had an opportunity to properly analyse the holographic interface.
[Name: Eli King]
[Race: Superhuman]
[Class: N/A]
[Affinity: N/A]
[Lv: 1]
[Exp required: 0/250]
[HP: 50/50]
[STR: 5 DEX: 6 END: 5 INT: 7 LUC: 6 POW: 5]
[Autonomous Skills:]
[Desire to grow- 10% Increase to growth characteristics]
[Rejuvenation- Passively regenerate 0.25 every minute]
[A Date with Death- After staring death in the face, you have now adapted to resist intermediate fear.]
[Unique Traits:]
[Adaptability- You're biological make-up is capable of constantly adapting to the environment around you.]
Eli continued to investigate the interface, although of course to Faye, he looked as if he was squinting for no apparent reason, eying up the air in front of him.
Am I in a video game?'