Mako noticed that there was something behind the mirror. It looked like some sort of a lever, but that didn't make any sense... Why would a random lever be hiding behind his bathroom mirror?
Amy Grey was Mako's grandmother, and she took care of Him during his childhood. Unfortunately, she passed away when Mako was 14, and ever since, Mako has lived alone in the house.
He had inherited her grandmother's house, which her father had built, and a small amount of money that she had in her savings.
It was incredibly rough being all alone in the world at just 14 years of age, but Mako had to be brave as the teachings and lessons of his grandmother kept him going through the years with the old folk of Bird's Eye Street also coming to visit every once in a while to make sure he was okay.
Mako had always viewed the house as perfectly fine, apart from its slight seclusion from nearby neighborhoods and proximity to the forest at the city's edge.
This was why Mako was so surprised to see a secret lever behind the now-broken mirror. The glass had cut his hand badly, and he was covered in blood, but he didn't care about it right now; he was too curious to find out what the secret lever was for.
*CRANK!*
After flipping the lever, the mechanism behind it started to make mechanical noises akin to giant gears turning.
Suddenly, the whole wardrobe behind Mako, which had all his clothes, started to move toward the left-hand side of the sink, revealing a narrow passage that had stairs leading down somewhere into the darkness.
'What the hell is this?!' Mako said to himself as he couldn't help but question what he was seeing.
'Maybe I finally got brain damage from all that beating... or maybe I am just dreaming.' Mako thought as he decided to pinch himself hard, but to his surprise, he didn't suddenly wake up.
"HOLY S***! This is real!" He exclaimed.
Mako soon realized the situation he was in: a passage leading from his house to who knows where.
Mako had a sense of foreboding and caution but also a sense of excitement and curiosity.
After staring down the dark passage for a few minutes, his curiosity got the better of him, and he finally worked up the courage to make his way down the stairs of the dark passage.
As Mako climbed down the stairs, he continually heard water dripping, odd squeaks from the wooden walls, and the echo of his own footsteps. Despite these unsettling noises, he felt little fear as his curiosity drove him to uncover where the passage would lead.
Eventually, the stairs finished leading down and led Mako into a small room the size of a garden shed. There was a singular light bulb hanging from the ceiling that had just enough light to barely light up the room.
Multiple shelves held an assortment of different things, such as old rocks and dust-covered objects. In the middle of the room, a small chest the size of Mako's palm sat on top of a pedestal.
Mako was astonished to discover a room beneath his house, filled with a variety of peculiar objects on dusty shelves. He had no idea what any of these objects were, but after staring at the small chest in the center for a bit, he believed that it might contain treasure, prompting him to open it recklessly.
Although the chest wasn't locked, it still refused to open. With one hand still injured, Mako pressed his left hand against the lid and pushed with all his strength, but it didn't move an inch.
"Gahh!" he groaned in frustration, struggling to believe just how strong the hinges were on such a small chest.
It felt quite absurd that something so small had been clamped down with so much force that it didn't even slightly move while Mako continued to try and open it.
After continuously failing, he decided to use both hands to try to open the box carefully. This would give him a better grip on the box, and he would see if he could find the trick to open the chest.
However, as soon as his bloody hand touched the chest, it instantly lit up. It was so bright that Mako had to close his eyes to protect them from going blind, and that was when he heard a strange voice come out of the box.
[Blood Sample Found]
[Matching Blood Sample From Database]
[Match Found]
[Initializing System]
This was the last thing that Mako heard before he felt a cool yet burning feeling all over him, and that something was trying to forcefully enter his body as he could feel the movement of his every muscle and artery.
Not having the strength to fight back, whatever was trying to get in successfully made its way inside Mako's body, and he passed out the next moment it did.
*********************
After a while, Mako regained consciousness and realized that he was still in the dusty secret room that he had found at the end of the hidden passage.
"Ugh… how many times am I gonna get knocked out today?" Mako groaned groggily as he sat up, holding his aching head.
This was the third time today—first, Bill had knocked him out. Then, sheer exhaustion took over the moment he got home, his body shutting down after limping all the way back while being injured. And now, he had blacked out again... right after opening the chest.
"The chest! That's right—I opened it! Where is it?"
His memory snapped back to the last thing he saw before losing consciousness. He scrambled to his feet and searched the entire room, but the chest was nowhere to be found.
Confusion set in. A solid, physical object couldn't just disappear into thin air. The room was small; if it had fallen, he would have seen it. And it definitely couldn't have climbed up the stairs on its own.
So where the hell did it go?
Mako was convinced that the chest was still inside the small room, so he kept looking. Suddenly, he started to hear faint beeping sounds.
The room was starting to become creepier. There was no sign of a machine or piece of technology other than the light bulb that could produce a beeping sound, yet he could quite clearly hear a beeping sound.
Not sure where the beeping was coming from, Mako decided to ignore it and keep on looking for the chest. After a couple of minutes, Mako was convinced that the chest was not in the room.
"Well... looks like I've found something else that disappears on me, just like my socks. One vanishes in the dryer, the other in some creepy secret room in my great-grandpa's old house," Mako muttered, chuckling dryly at his own misfortune. With a sigh, he gave up searching and decided to head back to the bathroom, still unsure what to make of the bizarre experience.
But just as he turned toward the stairs, something caught his eye—a faint blue light, blinking in the darkness.
"So you were the one making all that beeping," Mako murmured, stepping closer. He reached out toward the glow, his fingers brushing against the rough surface of the stone wall.
Nothing.
"Huh?"
Mako kept pressing his hand against the spot where the light was blinking, but every time, all he felt was solid stone. Yet, as he moved his head, the blinking light shifted with his vision.
"What the hell is this?!" he shouted, frantically running his hands over his face, checking for anything unusual. But nothing seemed out of place.
"Is this thing inside my brain? But how is that even possible?!" Mako exclaimed as he started to panic, worrying that it was some kind of a bomb inside of him and that he was going to die.
After constantly moving back and forth and frantically trying everything he could think of to get the blinking light to go away, he finally decided to calm down and focus on the light to see if there was anything on it.
As soon as Mako decided to focus on the blur-blinking light, it suddenly got brighter and brighter and started to expand as well. In an instant, the blue had covered everything in Mako's line of sight. It happened so fast that, Mako jumped at the sudden change, and landed on his butt.
*Thump!*
"OUCH!"
While rubbing his butt, Mako slowly opened his eyes to see that a screen was being displayed in front of his eyes. Astonished by what he was seeing, he again subconsciously reached out to touch the screen, but it was nothing but air.
"Right, don't touch, but think." Mako reminded himself and decided to access the screen through his thoughts.
[Initializing complete]
[Welcome, User]
A welcome message greeted Mako, and as he expressed his thoughts on how to proceed, the screen began to move.
"Woah, so this thing is really responding to my thoughts." Mako realized as he went forward with the system's greeting messages.
Mako had never heard of the technology that could disappear once opened and be directly implanted in your brain, which could then be accessed by thoughts.
Numerous advancements had occurred in the technology sector featuring various sophisticated AIs, but this was entirely different.
After the system finished with those initial messages, five tabs were displayed in front of him.
[Profile] ⓘ
[Quests] ⓘ
[Skills] ⓘ
[Inventory] ⓘ
[Shop] ⓘ
All the tabs were greyed out except the one labeled [Profile]. After not being able to access any of the other tabs, Mako decided to open the profile tab.
[User: Mako Grey] ⓘ
[Health: 84/100] ⓘ
[Energy: 50/50] ⓘ
[EXP: 0/100] ⓘ
[Level 1] ⓘ
[Strength: 2] ⓘ
[Agility: 3] ⓘ
[Perception: Null] ⓘ
[Intelligence: 5] ⓘ
[Mentality: 2] ⓘ
[Stamina: 4] ⓘ
[Charisma: Locked] ⓘ
[Fortitude: Locked] ⓘ
It displayed all the different attributes of Mako; while some of those were locked, others had a numerical value next to them.
'How the hell does this thing know my name, and what is this 'EXP' thing that it's talking about? Is this all a type of game? Am I still dreaming? No way this is real, right?' A plethora of different thoughts were coursing through Mako's mind as he read all the different attributes of his current body.
Each attribute had a "ⓘ" symbol next to it, which indicated that it would reveal more information. However, before Mako could read any of them, he noticed an envelope with a red dot near the corner of the screen. Intrigued by what it was, he decided to open it first.
[Notifications] ⓘ
[(1) Unread message]
[New video message]
"Hmm... I wonder what this is about?" Mako's curiosity peaked once again, and he sent a command through his thoughts to play the video message.
**************************
Author's Note: Hey guys! Universal Power System is one of my favorite projects, and I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I have enjoyed writing it. This is my very first work, so expect some amateur writing and a few slips. However, I always try to learn and correct myself so I can create a more coherent narrative. I hope you guys enjoy it. Don't forget to check out my other works!
Come say hi to me on Discord: https://discord.gg/TvjkrdnbE2