As John Morphy lay in his hospital bed, a sudden voice echoed in his mind.
[System detected. Do you accept the soul binding?]
John blinked in surprise. It was happening—just like in the novels he used to read. He let out a small chuckle. "Sure, let's do it. I just hope it's not painful."
The system began the binding process, and to his relief, it wasn't painful at all.
Just as the process was underway, the hospital room door swung open. A young girl entered, her eyes glistening with unshed tears, but a bright smile adorned her face.
"So, you've really lost your memory…" she whispered, stepping closer before wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug.
"You survived… Thank you for staying alive," she said, her voice trembling. "Even if you don't remember me, it doesn't matter. Just having you here is enough."
John seized the opportunity. "You're… my sister?"
She nodded. "Yes, I'm Lisa Morphy. I'm 18. You're John Morphy, 22 years old."
{pic for lisa}
As they talked, John carefully gathered as much information as he could. Lisa seemed happy to speak with him—it was clear she had been lonely for a long time.
She explained that John had been an excellent student but chose not to attend college for reasons he never told anyone. Instead, he self-studied programming and had dreams of starting his own company early. Their parents, despite his unusual decision, respected his choice. Meanwhile, Lisa was in her final year of high school.
John listened attentively, filing away every piece of information. But when he asked why he was in the hospital, Lisa's cheerful expression darkened.
She hesitated, but then sighed. "A month ago… you, Mom, and Dad were in the car. You got into an accident."
John immediately understood. "I see… So, I was the only survivor?"
Lisa nodded silently.
Even though he didn't have memories of them, John instinctively knew they must have been good people. "They must have been great parents," he murmured.
Lisa forced a smile, but her watery eyes betrayed her sadness. To change the subject, John asked how she had been managing alone. She understood his intention and gave him a small, appreciative smile.
After a while, she stood up. "I wish I could stay longer, but the doctors told me to keep my visit short. I'll come back tomorrow."
John frowned. "What do you mean, 'leave'? I'm coming with you. I don't like hospitals—I'm not staying here any longer."
"You need to rest."
"If I feel tired, I'll tell you. I promise. But I know I'm fine."
Lisa folded her arms. "You need to recover."
"If you leave me here, I'll escape on my own."
"You don't even know where our house is!"
"I'll figure it out."
Lisa sighed in defeat. "Fine. Stay here while I handle the discharge papers."
At that moment, the system binding process completed.
[System successfully bound.]
John focused his thoughts. "System, show me what you can do."
A voice, seemingly inside his head, responded: [Currently, the system can only display status attributes and answer basic questions.]
"For now? Can you evolve or something?"
[Not exactly. The system requires stable primal energy to function properly. However, it appears that the host has absorbed a large amount of unstable energy. Since I can only operate using stable energy, my functionality is currently limited. Similarly, you can only use stable energy for now.]
"Can you explain it in simpler terms?"
[Think of it like this—you have plenty of gasoline and an electric lamp. To light the lamp, you need electricity. You also have a generator that can convert gasoline into electricity, but its efficiency is too low to power the lamp fully.]
John nodded in understanding. "So, I need to upgrade my 'generator' to freely use my energy?"
[Correct.]
"Alright, then show me my status window."
A translucent screen appeared before him.
[Status Window]
Name: John Morphy
Age: 21
Race: Human (?)
Strength: 7
Endurance: 12
Agility: 8
Intelligence: 23
Energy: 5
John frowned. "What's with the question mark next to 'Human'?"
[It's most likely due to your soul's unique nature. While your body is human, your soul seems… different.]
"And why are my physical stats so low?"
[Your strength decreased because of muscle atrophy from being in a coma. The same applies to your agility. However, your endurance remained somewhat stable because there was an external energy aiding your body's recovery. It wasn't your own energy—someone was helping you recover from the outside.]
John narrowed his eyes. "And intelligence?"
[I suspect it's because you survived in the void for a while. Most beings would have lost their sanity under such conditions, but you remained stable.]
John focused his thoughts. "System, what about my skills?"
[Currently, you have no skills.]
John raised an eyebrow. "None at all? Then how do I acquire them?"
"Skills can be learned through experimentation. By repeatedly performing certain actions or understanding specific concepts, new skills will be generated."
John sighed. "So, no freebies… I'll have to figure things out on my own."
It wasn't exactly what he had hoped for, but it made sense. If he wanted to grow stronger, he had to start from scratch.
"Does that mean I can potentially learn any skill, as long as I practice it enough?"**
[maybe. However, the effectiveness of learning depends on your understanding and compatibility with the skill.]
John smirked. "Interesting… Looks like I have a lot of work to do."
For now, he needed to figure out his abilities and how to use his energy. But first, he had to get out of the hospital and back to normal life.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine."
"I heard you talking to someone…"
"I was just thinking out loud."
"Alright then. Let's go, I've completed your discharge paperwork."
"Alright."
As they walked down the hospital corridor, a voice called out.
"Mr. John, are you sure you're okay? You barely survived a serious accident and were unconscious for a whole month. You just woke up…"
John turned toward the voice. "I'm fine, Miss… uh… Have we met before? You seem a little familiar."
The woman smiled gently. "Dr. Christine Palmer. I'm glad you recovered. I was the doctor in charge of your case, you have a wonderful sister—she visited you every single day while you were unconscious."
"Of course, we've met—I'm your neighbor. I live just a few houses away from you. I used to see you and your family all the time." Her expression turned somber. "I'm really sorry for your loss, John. Your parents were wonderful people."
John blinked, caught off guard. "Oh... I see. Thank you, Dr. Palmer."
Lisa nodded beside him. "She checked on you a few times while you were unconscious. She also helped with the hospital paperwork after the accident."
{pic for Christine}
"Ah… Thank you for taking care of me."
Just then, another voice chimed in.
"Dr. Palmer, if you're heading home, I can accompany you on my way out."
"Thank you, Dr. Strange, but I'll be fine on my own," she replied. Since she, John, and Lisa lived in the same neighborhood, they decided to take a taxi together. Strange's car only had two seats, so it wouldn't fit all of them anyway.
Hearing the name, John froze. His eyes darted toward the source of the voice—Dr. Stephen Strange, the renowned surgeon-turned-sorcerer.
{pic for strange}
'So… have I really ended up in the Marvel Universe, or something?' he thought to himself.
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