"...wait, what are you talking about?"
"I said, congratulations, you're dead."
"I mean, of course. I can see that... It's about the second thing you said." He stood there, floating, with a poler face: "I can see my transparent body, I can literally see through it too!" I mean, he could also see his dead body just there covered in his blood.
"Well, I said you've been selected to the Ghost King system!" The grim reaper-looking bitch grinned widely, his skull face glowing brighter with excitement as his scythe trembled in excitement. "The Ghost Emperor, also known as Death, has sent his order through the entire Omniverse. All ghosts can go through a test to see if they can become a candidate to be the Ghost Emperor." Huh, that nice and all, to have something to do after death... Wait, what is the test again? "You'll receive the Ghost King system and will have to conquer an entire Universe as your first trial. The system will first awaken your inner soul abilities, and then you'll be sent to a random universe of at least Rank 2."
"Wait -"
"There is no time to answer questions. You'll learn as you go." The grim reaper raised their scythe before bringing it down on his soul's chest, making the almost fading soul gasp in pain - In a moment, his whole soul was filled with intricate letters and words as it received a guft.
[Ghost King system installed...]
[Awakening in process]
[You've unlocked the abilities:
F-Rank (SSS-Rank Potential): [Soul Energy Manipulation]
F-Rank (A-Rank Potential): [Apparition]
F-Rank (SSS-Rank Potential): [Telekinesis]
Congratulations!]
The grim reaper was the only one who saw it. The moment the scythe had hit the soul, a large portion of the system itself was consumed by the soul, which weakened the system and what it's functions, but also gave the soul a massive boost. Boost, which was going to be very useful, seeing as now they were now bound to be a ghost and unable to have a physical body unless it is made out of energy. Something he unlocked right away with the [Apparition] skill! "Good luck, little soul." To become the Ghost Emperor, one's journey was going to be the hardest and most painful journey of all.
-Scene Cut-
"...I hate this." Floating above the bright city, he felt his own invisible body moving against his will. He was being dragged towards a source of energy, or rather, a point of energy. This is where a lot of energy can be found. Emotions and thoughts produce energy! Events also can create a lot of energy, which is something he instinctively knows he must feed on to survive. "Well, if it's an abusive home... I'm killing the dad." And would you look at that - No abusive home, sadly. Well, his desire to kill a father aside, what he found was interesting to him: a man with depression. Well, it was not normal depression, but a depression so powerful that it was making enough energy to feed him! "Goddamn! Bitch, go to therapy!" Being a ghost, of course the guy didn't listen to him, but he was a good source for energy so he decided to follow him around.
"...huh, wife and daughter?" Looking at the pictures around the apartment, he saw the photos of a woman holding a girl in her arms. There was even a photo of him and the other woman together with the kid. They were smiling widely, and their eyes carried the carefree love for each other... "That's kinda sad."
[You've awakened the F-Rank (SS-Rank Potential) Skill: Energy Absorption]
[You've awakened the E-Rank (S-Rank Potential) Skill: Empathy]
[Status -
Name: ???
Race: Low-Ranking Ghost
Age: ???
Titles: Ghost Emperor Candidate
Tier: 1
[Spiritual Energy: 5,000/5,000]
[Psionic Energy: 5,000/5,000]
Stats - Body
Strength: 0
Endurance: 0
Dexterity: 0
Agility: 0
Vitality: 0
Stats - Mind/Soul
Intelligence: 50
Wisdom: 50
Willpower: 50
Charisma: 50
Spirit: 50
Skills -
F-Rank:
E-Rank:
"Damn, I'm getting stronger so quickly." He didn't know this, but the reason he was getting stronger so quickly was due to his soul absorbing part of the system - it did reduce a few things the system could do, but it also made his soul stronger and able to adapt faster. "Let's see..." His skill [Energy Absorption] was really easy to use, seeing as he could turn it on and off to absorb the surrounding energy - sadly for him, there was only a few types he could absorb right now, mainly Psionic, Emotional Energy, and Soul Energy were the ones he could feed upon right now, in relative quantities. "Poor guy -" his [Empathy] skill hit him hard, he could feel the emotions the other guy was feeling, and they were heavy! "Why does he feel guilty?" There wasn't much he could do except for training himself - he raised his translucent hand and channeled the energy he had within him, making this white mist slowly seep out of his hand: "Huh, crispy." It was also unnaturally cold, cold like death. He moved the energy around, playing with it a little and trying to see what it could do.
Seeing as he didn't want to scare the guy he was technically haunting (He decided to stick around a little, since this guy could give him a lot of energy!) yet, he decided to move into the bathroom of the apartment to try out the enegy - As it turns out, said energy didn't affect inanimate objects. "But hey, I still have Psionic!" Indeed he had! He focused for a second before said psionic energy started pouring out of his soul, but seeing as he couldn't control it very well, it crashed against the wall, making this loud thud sound as Psionic energy could interact with the world. "Oh fuck." He froze for a second, hyper aware that the depressed guy could've heard it!
"Anyone there?" Shit, he heard it! Floating away and hiding, our little ghost friend watched as the grieving man entered the bathroom. "...what the fuck happened here?" Yeah, in his panic, our ghost protagonist accidentally knocked out a few bottles of shampoo and conditioner down, making a mess. "Great, I'm being haunted by my sins... Are you happy, Laura? You got your wish to haunt me after you're gone, sister." Oh, is mister depressed hot guy single? "I hope Lila is beside you right now." The wet chuckle that soon followed was honestly depressing - he punched the mirror, shards flying everywhere and sinking into his fist, making him bleed. But he didn't care. He howled in anger and anguish. Immediately, the powerful energy he was producing increased a hundred fold, overwhelming the vouyer ghost. "...fuck." He began to cry, cry like a newborn, but the ghost's [Empathy] made him feel the heaviest sense of guilt and sadness he ever felt in his life!
Un-life?
Regardless of that, he was overwhelmed by the sheer negative emotions emanating from the man - so much so he failed to see as the man picked up a rather large shard of glass, held it in his hand and slashed his wrists. He only noticed it when he came back to himself, being not as overwhelmed as he was previously: "Holy shit - my guy, no!" But it was too late. "Oh fuck, I've never dealt with shit like this!" Indeed, he has never dealt with someone going down the suislide!
What the fuck is he supposed to do?
The overwhelming negative energy seemed to attract others because he saw this black mass of negative energy slowly seeping from beneath the door, materializing as a shadow with two white dots for eyes.
[Shadowperson - Low-Ranking Negative Energy Entity]
[Feasts upon negative energy of a place or person. Commonly confused with ghosts and other spirits! They devour the energy from the souls of their victims who are in a negative or weak state.]
"Hey, get away from my dying boy!" Lashing out with his own Spiritual Energy, he finally learned how it worked - the shadow person hissed angrily as the wave of energy he sent slammed against it, pushing it away. His Spiritual Energy was neutral in nature! It was not positive nor negative, which meant it wasn't... super effective. "Shit." Suddenly, the shadow person dashed towards him in a mad dash, trying to sink humanoid hand into him, which he reacted by batting it away with his own hand. The result? The Shadow Person was pushed a few feet away, phasing through the wall.
It took him a bit of energy to do that, but it felt really easy.
"Oh right, my dying boy!" Panicking, he turned to look at the man on the ground, who just looked like hw had given up on everything. The emotions he emitted were negative, but felt weirdly hollowm "Shit-" he immediately did what he could think of: he phased through the door and walls until he got to the living room, whereupon he used his skill [Apparition] to materialize a physical body, which he used to hold out the phone the man had left behind in the sofa and call 911.
"911, what's your emergency."
"Please, send help to my location. Please - he is bleeding out, I don't know what to do!"
"Sir, please calm down and tell me what you need - would an ambulance be of help?"
"Yes, quick, he's going to die."
Without saying anything else, he let the phone go as he felt his body fading back into incorporeal due to the lack of energy to maintain the skill. "Fuck!" All he could do was panick, panick because the gashes in the man's wrists were not that big but the amount of blood leaving his body was! Is this some comic book shit? Why the fuck is he bleeding out so much!? "Oh no you don't." Seeing as the man had gone unconscious, the ghost decided to push himself into the body, which was how he found out he could possess people.
[You've awakened the E-Rank (S-Rank Potential) skill: Possession]
-Scene Cut-
The very first thing that he saw when he woke up was... a ceiling? Next, he heard the beeping of a machine he recognized from movies as a heart monitor. He moved or tried to, but the pain he felt on his wrists made him aware that his attempt at taking his own life had failed. "Shit." Now what? He has no reason to live! His sister and niece, his only family, died a horrible death. His home was going to be taken by greedy assholes, and even his sister' things are going to be taken by the fuckers of her side of the family.
Laura wasn't exactly his biological sister - He and and her met, became such good friends, and that they considered each other's siblings. He was even Lila' godfather! But then the accident happened and they both died. Clint never had a family to begin with, so when he lost everything he had in a single day, his already fragile mental health took a heavy hit. He confesses that the suicide attempt was a mistake. He regretted it the moment he did slash his wrists, but he didn't care enough to stop the bleeding.
Fuck, he was so pathetic, wasn't he?
"Clint Francis Barton?" A doctor, older man wearing really cliche doctor clothing, entered his room while looking at a paper: "You're such a lucky kid... Don't do that stupid shit again kiddo, someone up there really wants you alive." The doctor just made a small check up on him before a nurse came to the room to do that instead, getting an annoyed grunt from the doctor as he left.
Apparently, he had lost a lot of blood. Like, a lot! He should've been dead by now since no human being survives losing 80% of their blood. That's what they meant by someone up there wanting him alive because apparently someone called 911 to his apartment.
But the thing is, the call came from Clint's own phone. If he, who didn't leave the bathroom, didn't make the call... who did?