Clark rolled his chair over to his bed, sighing as he finished the last of his homework assignments. The physics book that had abused him for the past hour now lay defeated at his desk, but the trauma oozing from its smooth surface made him shiver even now.
"Well, at least it was somewhat interesting. Thank God Mr. Tham assigned conceptual problems- at least he has some guilt after making us suffer through those practical problems in class," he said. "I can finally do... nothing. Fuck, everyone's busy with extracurriculars. Well, except for that asshole but the weather isn't good enough for that..."
Just like every other day, Clay regretted taking so many tough classes that he didn't have time for anything else- this always happened after he realized he didn't have time to chill with his friends. Fortunately, after happening so many times, the moment of weakness went away. Now, he was just bored.
He could go back to his computer and see if there was anything streaming that caught his eye, but just as that thought crossed his mind, a stream of sunlight came in from his window and blinded him.
"Gah!"
A dull thump was the only reward the sun got from blinding him after he fell from his chair in shock.
"I thought it was supposed to be cloudy all day..." He swore, enduring the ache in his back from hitting the leg of his chair as he fell. Clark checked his phone again to be sure and, sure enough, the weather app foretold nothing but dreary clouds and a some-what tolerable chill. All it meant was that he had an excuse to not go outside, but with this sudden sunshine...
"Okay, everything's fine..." He took a deep breath to calm his suddenly rapid heartbeat. "Maybe he didn't notice. If he hasn't sent anything yet, then maybe I'm safe-"
As if just by thinking about it had summoned him, Clark's phone buzzed as a message lit up the screen.
"...maybe if I ignore it-"
Dud dud dud!
Clark wiped a drop of sweat that started rolling down his face and slowly got off the ground, trying not to make any noise. His phone buzzed another three times, making him flinch every single time because he thought the psycho outside would hear it.
"Clark~! You in there buddy? I really hope you are, otherwise I'm just making myself look like an idiot in front of the pretty lady next door~!" Jay's voice slithered through the door and only made his heart beat even faster. Seriously, he couldn't take this stress. How did he even get here so fast?! His apartment building was like three blocks away!
"Come on bud, I can smell your homework from here!" Jay said. "No, but seriously, you gotta open a window bro, I'm pretty sure the smell of your books is driving the property rates down. You deserve a medal."
Clark took offense to that but he wasn't stupid enough to actually answer to the verbal harassment. That would just end up with him outside training with Jay when he could just relax indoors; he didn't need any more reason to stay focused on staying quiet.
"...are you seriously not in here? Damn." Nervous laughter came from underneath the door. "Sorry Ms. T. You can continue doing whatever you're doing, haha..."
Clark cracked a smile in relief at the sound of Jay's footsteps walking away.
'Oh thank God. I really didn't want to go out today...'
Ring ring! Ring ring!
It was at that moment that his phone decided to ring.
****
"Anything to say for yourself?" Jay stood over him with a smug expression, his usually lively brown eyes turned upwards in an accurate imitation of a miffed king who looked down on everyone.
Clark was kneeling on the ground wearing some clown hair and a big red ball on his nose, something that Jay ran to the store and bought before running back just to rub in his bad luck some more. Pretentious bastard.
"Didn't think so. Alright, get that ridiculous stuff off your head and get dressed- you know the drill." He turned away, not even leaving the room while he got dressed. Well, it didn't matter all that much, it was just his shirt and pants. Clark just sighed before changing into his running clothes and dragged his feet to the door with Jay in tow.
"Hey Ms. T!" Jay said cheerfully, waving his arm at Clark's neighbor who heard the entire spectacle. Clark had nothing to say and only stiffly nodded his head, catching her smirk at him. As much as the knowledge that she knew he'd been caught trying to dodge out of Jay's maniac training irked him, he could only blame himself for not realizing that Jay's calls still went through his phone's silent mode.
"You boys going running again?" She asked.
"Yep! Well, I was thinking of just doing a light walk when I came over, but because someone tried to get out of the program..." Clark's face twitched at the obvious verbal incrimination. "We're back to sprints! Gotta get in shape for the meet this week, you know? If we don't take advantage of every single day, all our muscles'll rot and all that."
She giggled at his energy. "Well, I'll get out of your way then. Have fun!"
"We will Ms. T! Stay safe!"
She went back inside her apartment and the two of them walked down to the lobby using the stairs. The elevator broke down the day before, so until the landlord could get around to fixing it they were stuck with the semi-clean stairway. It wasn't so bad to go down, but Clark groaned at the idea of going back up when they finished.
"You see the news?" Jay asked.
"What, about the massive solar flare? Yeah, pretty much everyone's talking about it." Clark rolled his eyes at the question. "And by pretty much everyone, I mean everyone. Anybody with an electronic device has to know about the flares or they'll be really confused when everything shuts down for a few days."
"It's so weird though. I don't think any flare's lasted longer than a couple of hours... I can't imagine how people are gonna cope without their phones for three days." He complained. "And what about school? You depend on your computer for everything in your classes, and most of mine are really annoying to write down notes for by hand."
Clark scoffed. "You don't take notes anyways."
Jay acted like he was offended. "Shut up. And I'm serious, it's super weird."
"Well, weirder things have happened."
"...they have? Like what??"
"Well, if it's specifics you want, maybe you should've spent more time paying attention in history class." Clark retorted.
"That's just fancy talk for admitting that you don't know either."
He didn't. But there had to be a few events; how could a few days without technology possibly be the weirdest thing to happen in all of human history?
"So where are we running today? A canyon? The park? Up your mom's-"
"Alright, alright." Jay cut him off before he could finish the joke, but the smile on his face was all Clark needed to feel satisfied. "We're just going to the park today. No need to overwork ourselves with the meet so close."
He snorted at the vague reasoning. "Yeah, sure. Totally not because you're hoping to see Carla there in her running clothes-"
"Shut up!!" Jay hissed back, frantically looking around like he expected one of Carla's overprotective friends to be nearby ready to kick both of their asses. "Don't you have any self-preservation instinct?!"
"Sure I do. I'm just not worried about a bunch of barely five-foot women beating me up."
"Easy for you to say..." Jay grumbled. "Not everyone can be tall."
It was true. Although Jay definitely had the most energy out of the two of them, he was considerably shorter than him by four inches. It was probably the reason why he was so energetic- without his energy, he'd just be the short guy in the group.
Comparatively, Clark was much bigger (and slower, but he'll never admit that it's because of his build) with wide shoulders and a weight that turned him into a runaway train when he really got going. But if people didn't describe him as the tall one, they described him as the 'one who's always on his phone'. To be fair, it wasn't that he was always on his phone; it just so happened he was hit with the sudden urge to read at the same time that he was with people.
"Speaking of Carla, isn't that her over there?"
Jay spun faster than his mind could react and ended up on the floor with a flushed expression, with Clark laughing over him.
"Haha! Oh, well you should be glad that it's not her, because otherwise you would've looked like an idiot just now!" He grinned, happy at how quickly their roles reversed. While Jay was usually the social butterfly, whenever she was involved he somehow always managed to find a way to look like an idiot. Hopefully, she found that endearing because otherwise... their strange 'courtship' wasn't going to last very long.
"You... you asshole!" He lunged for him, but Clark stepped out of the way and started running for his life. "Get over here so I can kick your ass!"
Clark would bet money on the opposite being true in reality, but this was as good an excuse to start their training as any.
After a few minutes of Jay chasing after him, the two of them ran out of stamina and sputtered to a stop next to the park lake with flushed expressions from the exertion.
"You're lucky... that I... am too tired... to do anything to you right now...." Jay spat out, the smile on his face not matching the theatrical anger in his voice.
"Oh look, the solar flare must've started." Clark pretended not to hear him and pointed at his phone. His data was spiking in and out of control before ultimately dying out pathetically, with a small 'x' crossing out the cell service provider name. "Huh. Weird. The phone's still working. Didn't the news say that every electronic was supposed to die out or something?"
Jay tilted his head and looked closer at his phone- it was true, the cell phone was perfectly fine; it was just the cell service that died out. "Well... they did say that this would be the first flare to actually cut off mobile electronic devices, so it makes sense that it didn't actually happe-"
It was that moment that the phone in Clark's hand exploded into a screen of green particles of light, destroying his hand into red mist.
"What the fuck?!" Clark's hand hung uselessly in front of him, with the skin of his fingers being mangled beyond utility to the point where he could even see the bones.
"Dude, are you okay?" Jay reached to take a look at his hand before his phone exploded too in his pocket, leaving a bloody hole in his waist. "Ahh!"
They weren't the only ones screaming in pain. All around the park, everyone with a phone or electronic device suffered from wounds caused by the spontaneous explosions. Every single one of the phones exploded into those green light particles that hung ominously in the air, vibrating every time a wind current passed through them.
"W-what the hell is happening?" Clark bit his teeth and stared at the blood and gore around him. "Is this a terrorist attack?"
The pain from his mangled hand hadn't even hit him yet- the shock of everything that was happening was too strong for that.
Before his mind could even process anything, the particles of light shook in place before cascading into his body.
[Welcome to the Universal System!]
[We apologize for any injuries caused by assimilation into the System: As a token of our appreciation for surviving your world's entrance, the System will begin healing all wounds momentarily.]
[. . . Completed!]
[Analyzing attributes now. Beginning Comprehensive Analysis and Comparison between Hosts now.]
[. . . Completed!]
[Status:]
[Health: 4]
[Strength: 4]
[Will: 5]
[Agility: 5]
[Intelligence: 6]
[Mana: 0]
[Assessment of all {Living} . . . Completed!]
[Assessment Results: The Universal System has high hopes for the survival of this {Living}, and although the {Living} has a low Mana count, the comparatively high number of the Intelligence stat matches those with decent potential.]
[The {Skills} Branch will unlock shortly. Until then, the {Living} must choose a Seed for the upcoming Trials!]
[List of available {Seeds} matching the {Living}'s potential and physique.]
[1. Divine Host {Low Compatibability} Transformation.]
[2. Weaponry {Sword} Talent.]
[3. Beserker {Warrior Strain} Class.]
[4. Monster {Mutation} Talent.]
[5. Living Armor {Mutation} Talent.]
[All options are picked according to an analysis of the {Living}'s life and preferences. Please choose or an option will be picked randomly to give enough preparation time before this world's Entrance.]
A flood of information popped in Clark's mind at the same time that he noticed a cool sensation flowing from his hand. Looking down, he noticed that the mangled flesh of his fingers started twitching before violently smoothing back into straight fingers, with new skin growing over the bare flesh like nothing ever happened.
Before he could even read whatever the... system, was trying to tell him, Clark's mind reached its breaking point and he slipped into unconsciousness, falling to the ground in a heap.
[. . . Choice acknowledged. Beginning Mutation now.]