I left my room and headed towards the bathroom. As I walked, my mind wandered back to my current situation. Although I felt motivated earlier, I couldn't deny the fear of death that I had just experienced. It was terrifying.
I can't stay like this. I need to rise above the fear and motivate myself. As the saying goes, "The best mentor is yourself." While some might find that hard to believe, I've held on to that belief since I was young. Before I knew it, I had arrived at the bathroom door—lost in thought, I hadn't even realized I was here already. It was almost as if all those deep thoughts had passed by in just a few steps from my room to the bathroom.
I turned on the water and prepared to take a shower. As I let the water wash over me, I started thinking again. Deep within my thoughts, I whispered, "System..."
"...What? Why isn't anything showing up? Did I pronounce it wrong? I don't think so."
"System, ระบบ, sistemi, प्रणाली, Sistema, システム, Система..."
"...Damn it! Why isn't anything happening?! I've pronounced 'system' in various languages that I've studied, but nothing's happening!!" I shouted in frustration in the bathroom. "But wait... I think I heard the word 'error' just before my regression... Is that what's causing this problem?" Lathan pondered.
"This is bad. What should I do? I'm incredibly grateful to have returned to life before I died... but what's the point of coming back if I don't have any powers? I can't check my abilities or my growth potential... Even though I remember the system saying I've been granted the skill 'Over Limit,' just hearing its name doesn't tell me how useful it is..." Lathan murmured.
Maybe I should try saying something from those comics? There might be some hidden phrase to activate my system.
As Lathan shampooed his hair, he continued to think. After finishing his shower, he went back to his room to change clothes. Once dressed, he sat in the living room.
"Hmm, what phrase could activate my system?" Lathan muttered to himself.
"Appear, system!"
"Rise!"
"Skill!"
"Ability!"
It was useless—none of those words triggered anything. Just then, Lathan remembered one of his favorite manga. The main character in that story also had a system in another world, and he often said something to make it appear.
"Hmm, if I remember correctly..." "Display... status?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Congratulations on activating the System]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As soon as Lathan said that, a status screen similar to a game appeared in front of him. "Finally!" he exclaimed. "Wait... why do the colors and the display look a bit different?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
[Because your current level is still low, some features are still not open and locked]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This system seems different from most I've seen, locked features? So if my level is sufficient then there are many variants of features that I can use, huh.
"hmm for the system display.."
The system interface in this world resembled the typical systems you see in comics. The screen was a rectangular box, blue-green in color, floating like a hologram. Usually, the system displayed several things, such as:
||Name:
||Level:
||Age:
||Race:
||Job:
||Affiliation:
And below those details, the individual's stats were shown, which included:
||Str:
||Agi:
||Int:
||End:
||Luck:
~[Note from the author:]
Str: Strength
Agi: Agility
Int: Intelligence (related to magic abilities)
End: Endurance (physical stamina)
Luck: Luck
Generally, these five core stats were represented in a pentagon shape. Each individual's initial stats varied—some had naturally high strength and endurance, making them potential tankers, while others had weaker base stats. Below the stats, the system displayed any inherent skills that each person received upon awakening.
Lathan was still confused about the system in front of him. "Why is it reddish-purple? Is it because of the error?" he thought, as he began checking his status displayed on his personal system screen.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
||Name: Lathan Louvain
||Level: 1
||Age: 18
||Race: Human (??)
||Job: None
||Affiliation: None
||Str: 7
||Agi: 8
||Int: 24
||End: 13
||Luck: 20
[|Skill: OverLimit (?)|]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After seeing his status, Lathan was shocked. "W-what is this?!! Why are my Int and Luck so high?! And what's with this OverLimit skill? I assumed it just lets me surpass my limits, but that's it! The description of the skill is insane!!".
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The OverLimit skill allows the user to surpass human limits and grants slightly more battle experience than normal. While a regular person might gain experience at a rate of 1.0x, this skill allows the user to receive 1.55x more experience. Additionally, the skill can continue to grow and surpass its limits as the user becomes stronger. [?????????] [?????????] [??????????] Etc.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Oh my God!!!" Lathan exclaimed, still in shock.
"My stats are pretty high, but this skill?! What kind of skill can keep growing stronger with the user? As far as I know, every skill has a level cap of 10... But a skill that can make someone surpass human limits and keep leveling up? I'm not sure whether I'm lucky or unlucky."
Lathan calmed down and looked at his status description again. "Hmm? Why are there question marks next to my race? And why are there so many question marks in my skill? Is the explanation incomplete? How strong is this skill really...?".
Countless questions filled Lathan's mind, overwhelming him until he felt a headache coming on.
~~To be continued~~