There is nothing like warm coffee and a fresh bagel to begin your day. Every day, Jaden woke up early so he could go to his favorite coffee shop.
Black coffee, and a plain bagel lightly toasted. That is how he started his day every day of the week.
Today was no different, except Jaden had an uncomfortable feeling something would go terribly wrong. System, please stay quiet. His ordinary day can't get ruined this quickly.
So he got in line at the coffee shop. It was a busy morning, but Jaden didn't mind waiting. Waiting was one of the most underrated moments of life, in his opinion. If he had any choice, he'd rather wait for a train than become a worshiped hero.
The barista was calling out orders: "One latte with almond milk for Fred….", "One matcha latte for…uh…Master Criminal?"
A huge burly man swaggered up. "That's right, lady. Now put those hands in the air! Everyone, on the ground! This is now a hostage situation." He had a huge smirk on his foul face. A handful of tattooed thugs burst through the doors, machine guns in hand.
Wait, hold up. Was this a dream? This can't actually be real, right?
…
System, please say this was a coincidence. You couldn't have…
[No comment]
Give me a break.
The men were smashing counters and laughing, brandishing their guns. The customers were huddled up on the ground. A woman whimpered: "Someone here must have a system, please, someone help us!"
Come on lady, isn't that the police's job??
There was no way Jaden was going to do anything. The police would be here any moment, and he would remain a common-place level 1. But they weren't coming. And the criminals were getting impatient.
The criminal screamed into his phone. "Listen here, police! I'm giving you ten more minutes to send me the cash. After ten minutes, one person here dies! Got it!?"
At this rate, Jaden was certainly going to be late for work.
The woman beside Jaden started crying softly. There was the terrible scent of fear in the air. If help didn't come soon, things might actually get very bad. Ok, system, fine. Just this once, and then never again!
[God Emperor System, activated]
Did he even have any skills to use at level 1?
[Skills: Ultimate Dragon Destructive Vortex of Malevolence]
Could he…actually use that??
[Request Invalid:
Ok, ok, you don't have to rub it in. What skills can a slightly less pathetic emperor use?
[Searching…]
This system really hated him, didn't it?
[Skills: Black Slash]
He looked left, and right. People on all sides. He desperately wanted to tell everyone to close their eyes. Would it even be possible to keep his system a secret after this?
"All right, the ten minutes are up and I'm no richer than when I started! Who's our first volunteer?" The man lumbered over to the cowering woman beside Jaden. He snatched her up by her hair and she screamed. The man shoved his gun in her face as tears streamed down her cheeks.
It was really leaving him no choice. System, activate the skill.
[
He stood up. He had no idea how to use his skill, but he couldn't sit there while that innocent woman died. He ran over to the criminal and, all of a sudden, glowing black claws emerged from his hands. He didn't really know what he was doing, but he slashed the main criminal and sent him flying.
Well that worked better than expected.
The rest of the criminals fled the scene, soon followed by their leader who was clutching his chest and bleeding. Jaden stood in the center of the room awkwardly. The woman ran up to him: "I can't ever thank you enough! You must have a powerful system!" She tried to hug him.
He pushed her away: "No, I don't have a system. That was martial arts."
Would they really believe such an obvious lie? Better to leave quickly than to wait and find out. When Jaden ran down the street, he heard the familiar annoying sound of his system once again.
[Experience points gained: 55]
This was terrible!! Surely he must need 100 points to go up a level. At least he was only halfway there, it could still be avoided. System, how many points are needed for level 2?
[56 points]
Hold up, 56!? That hardly made any sense at all! Who designed this terrible system? He was certain of one thing, in any case. He must avoid that 1 experience point like it was the plague.