Ned closed his eyes, heart pounding in anticipation. "Status window," he whispered again, barely audible.
And this time, it happened.
A translucent screen flickered into existence before his eyes, floating mid-air like a hologram. The text was crisp, the edges glowing faintly with a soft, golden hue. It was beautiful.
Ned blinked in disbelief. "Holy... it actually worked," he muttered. For a moment, he forgot how to breathe. He'd waited years for this moment, and now it was here.
---
Name: Ned Forester
Title: Banished Spectator
Talent: Spectator's Insight (Grade ???)
Level: 0
Attributes:
- Strength: 4
- Agility: 6
- Endurance: 3
- Mana: 2
- Perception: 22
Unique Skills:
1. Reenact (Triggered by System)
2. ??? (Locked)
3. ??? (Locked)
4. ??? (Locked)
Achievements:
- None.
Status: Minor Injury (Healing Accelerated by External Device).
---
Ned stared at the window, his emotions swirling between confusion, hope, and disappointment.
"Banished Spectator?" he read aloud, his lip curling. "Really? Couldn't have picked a cooler title, huh?"
His gaze fell to the attributes section. "Strength: 4. Great. I'm weaker than Angel. Perception, though… 22? Is that supposed to be good?" He had no frame of reference, but compared to the rest of his stats, it stood out like a sore thumb.
Then there were the skills. Locked. All of them. Of course. "Figures," he muttered. "The first time I get my cheat, and it's still useless."
But before he could wallow in self-pity, the screen flickered. The words rearranged themselves, the golden hue deepening as new text appeared.
---
System Notification:
Activation of Spectator's Insight detected.
Parsing recent events…
Accessing data logs…
New insights unlocked.
---
The screen shimmered, and a second window appeared beside it, showing a timeline-like display. Each moment was marked with vivid descriptions. He skimmed through them, his confusion growing.
Event: Incident with Green-Haired Individual
Spectator Insight:
- Observed entity displaying unknown awakening markers.
- Surge of high-level mana recorded.
- Immediate threat to surroundings detected.
- Instinctive reaction triggered evasive maneuver (Hoverboard Boost).
---
"Wait," Ned said aloud, squinting at the details. "So… my talent did do something back there? It told me to move?"
The realization hit him like a lightning bolt. His talent wasn't useless. It was just subtle. Insanely subtle. The kind of subtle that made it impossible to figure out for years.
He scrolled further, landing on an entry about the mysterious watch.
---
Item Interaction: Temporal Log Device
- External anomaly detected.
- Blood absorption initiated.
- Accelerated healing triggered.
- Temporary fusion with user initiated.
---
"External Anomaly? Fusion?" Ned felt a headache brewing. "What the hell even is this watch?!"
---
Ned realized the amount of times he called his talent useless. It wasn't useless. It was just annoyingly abstract.
The screen dimmed, the golden glow fading.
Ned slumped back into his bed, groaning. The excitement of seeing his status was quickly replaced by a wave of exhaustion.
---
The next morning, he awoke to the sound of Angel banging on his door.
"Cheta! You're gonna be late!" she hollered, her voice like a trumpet in his ears.
"Ugh, leave me alone!" Ned shouted back, dragging himself out of bed.
As he got dressed, his mind kept drifting to the status window. The words, the skills, the logs—it was too much to process all at once. But one thing was clear: his life had just gotten a lot more complicated.
---
Later, as he walked to class, he couldn't help but observe everything around him more keenly. His heightened senses picked up details he'd never noticed before: the faint ripple in a puddle as a breeze passed over it, the distant hum of machinery in the academy's basement, the shifting patterns of light on his classmates' faces.
It was overwhelming but exhilarating.
For the first time, he felt like his Spectator talent might actually mean something.
Of course, the universe wasn't going to let him enjoy this revelation in peace.
As he entered the classroom, Reena waved him over. "Ned! Did you hear about the explosion in the lower district yesterday?"
Ned froze. "Explosion?"
She nodded, her expression grim. "Yeah. Something about a green-haired kid causing chaos. They say it was some kind of awakening gone wrong."
Ned's stomach churned.
"Green hair, huh?" he said, trying to sound casual. "Weird. Wonder who that could be."
But inside, his mind raced.
The kid. The patterns. The light.
Whatever had happened yesterday wasn't over. Not even close.