Myles stared at the crimson text floating before him. His breath still coming in ragged gasps after the life and death situation he had just experiencing a moment ago. The glowing words remained sharp and clear as if carved into the air itself. He blinked, his mind struggling to process what he was seeing.
"What the hell...?" he muttered and instinctively reaching out to touch the text. However, his hand passed through the glowing letters. He pulled his hand back, confusion flooding his thoughts. The text felt familiar.
It looke like the beginning scene straight out of the online novels he used to devour late into the night. The kind where the protagonist would suddenly gain a System, a mysterious power that changed everything. Myles blinked again. His bloodied face contorted with a mix of disbelief and a bizarre sense of recognition. The absurdity of it all made him let out a low, breathless chuckle.
"This is ridiculous..." he whispered to himself then a wry smile pulling at his lips.
He could practically hear the echo of countless protagonists from those novels who all reacting the same way he was now. Confused, disbelieving, and yet somehow exhilarated. And maybe saying the exact same words he just said.
It was almost as if he had slipped into one of those stories and becoming the very character he used to read about.
Myles shook his head, trying to clear the fog of his thoughts. But the reality of his situation was undeniable. The text was still there and the bloodied corpse of his neighbor lay motionless beside him. This was real. Or at least, it felt real enough.
The bizarre nature of the situation should have paralyzed him but instead, it spurred him into action. He had imagined scenarios like this before when he was lying in bed late at night, wishing for anything to break the monotony of his unremarkable life. Those fantasies had been his escape.
Myles didn't waste time questioning whether this was a dream or some kind of delusion born from a heart attack while masturbating to porn. He had no time for that. Whether this was a hallucination or a twisted reality, he knew what he had to do.
"If this is real... if I actually have a System," Myles thought and started pushing himself up from the floor, ignoring the pain radiating from his wounded leg, "then I need to use it. I need to survive."
He glanced at the notification again, focusing on the word "System" and focusing his thoughts, trying to open it like the main character used to do.
For a moment, nothing happened. But then the crimson text shifted and changed, forming into something.
Myles's eyes widened as the Status Window materialized before him. It was exactly as he had imagined it from countless stories—a screen displaying his stats, his title, his level.
[Name: Myles Blight]
[Title: (None)]
[Level: 1]
[Exp: 0/100]
[Age: 24]
[HP: 150]
[MP: 200]
---
[Attributes:]
[Strength: 10]
[Endurance: 8]
[Agility: 12]
[Wisdom: 9]
[Perception: 11]
---
[Skills:]
- (None)
Myles stared thoughtfully at his Status Window. The numbers staring back at him were not that good, to say the least. He knew enough from the novels he'd read to understand that these stats were weak.
"This is pretty bad," he muttered to himself. "If I was going to survive, I needed to get stronger, and fast."
His thoughts were interrupted by a sudden awareness of his body. The pain that had been throbbing in his leg was now completely gone. Confused, Myles looked down at his leg. His skin was smooth as if the injury from Emily's claws had never happened.
"Holy shit." he running his hand over the healed flesh. He raelized that, the moment he'd received the System, his wounds had been healed.
But he couldn't just stand there gawking at his healed leg. He turned his attention to Emily's distorted body. The novels he'd read always mentioned loot. items or cores dropping from defeated monsters. Maybe... just maybe...
Myles knelt beside Emily's corpse and scanning her twisted form for anything that seemed out of place. It didn't take long before he noticed it: a sharp, jagged object portruding from her chest that glowing with a faint orange hue. This first loot drop.
"Looks like my knowledge from those novels is finally useful," Myles muttered. A small smile tugging at his lips as he carefully pried the object free.
It was a small blade-like shard, warm to the touch and it pulsed with a strange energy. But as soon as he held it in his hand, a problem presented itself: he had no idea how to use it. Usually what come out is an orb or scroll or something you can break and use easily. But this blade look different.
"Do I have to break it?"
Before any more idea appeared, another notification flashed before his eyes.
[To gain the power within the shard, stab it into your heart.]
Myles grimaced, his stomach churning at the thought. "Stab it into my heart? Are you kidding me?"
The idea of willingly plunging something into his chest was enough to make him hesitate. But then again, this entire situation was insane. If he'd learned anything from his countless hours spent reading those novels, it was that hesitation could get you killed.
He took a deep breath, steeling himself for what was to come. "Alright... I've come this far."
With a final look at the shard Myles braced himself and pressed the sharp point against his chest. He hesitated for only a moment, then with a swift motion, he stabbed it into his heart.
Pain exploded through his chest as the shard buried itself deep. Myles gasped, the air driven from his lungs and his vision become blurry. For a moment he thought he might pass out or even die. But then, the pain subsided.
A new notification appeared before his eyes:
[You have gained the skill: Fireball.]
Myles collapsed to the floor. He was alive. And more than that he was now armed with something new power he could use.
---