The System
When I woke up I felt cramped.
The desk may have been bigger than my school desk, but that doesn't mean that sleeping under one on a wall was like sleeping in a five-star hotel.
I couldn't really think straight, but I knew I had to at the very least check around the house.
I hadn't locked the door behind me, and even thought I lived in a suburb it didn't mean that I could just go leaving doors open.
Crawling out from under the desk was harder than expected, and I had hit myself in the head at least twice but the time I escaped from its entangling legs.
I slowly stood, and felt everything I had ever been and could've been pop.
The joints in my hands were incomparable to the pops that came from all of my back.
I stood there for a little bit after that experience because I couldn't understand what the heck happened.
Then I started to move around the house, and check every single door outside, and window leading outside.
I ended with the front door, and outside I saw a little box.
I didn't remember ordering anything, so I just left it there in the night.
Nobody would just go outside in pitch black night, to get a box that they didn't remember ordering.
It was common sense.
Except there was none.
Disease System, are you here? I called out expectantly.
(Yeah)
(What do you want?)
Just want to know what you are, or what you can do for me, I nonchalantly replied.
(Oh, you don't know what a System is, do you?)
Yeah, I don't know what the heck something that can stop time is, I shot back.
(Not my problem)
(Anyways, I am able to make you stronger, and I do so as a power, and something like a status board)
(I am able to quantify your abilities, and I can give you some new ones that all relate to me)
So you are a mixture between an ability, and the Health App on my phone? I asked for clarification.
(Basically yeah, but I do more powerful things than tell you about your daily intake)
(After all, I am able to "stop time")
(Anyways, take a look for yourself)
Name: Zen
Age: 16
Date: DD-MM-YYYY; 14-5-2142
____________________________________
Stats
Force: 15
Control: 17
Vitality: 14
Od: 2
____________________________________
Talent
Keeper of the Swarm: Swarmkeeper
-Slight magical abilities
-Increases Control
-Increases Force
-Increases Vitality
-Increases Proficiency with Bow
____________________________________
Infected stages (In a healthy body)
Incubation
Prodromal
Illness
Stage of Decline
Convalescence
Infected Stages (In an unhealthy/unlucky body)
Incubation (The infection is unnoticed, but is beginning to multiply)
Prodromal (The body noticed the multiplication, and light symptoms show up as it starts to engage)
Illness (Noticable Symptoms start to show up, and can be localized or Systematic)
Sepsis (The Body starts to fight itself)
Severe Sepsis (Organs start to malfunction)
Septic Shock (Impossibly low blood pressure despite assistance from IV fluids)
____________________________________
Transmitters
Bacteria
____________________________________
Symptoms
Bacteria
Fever or Chills
Severe headache or neck stiffness
____________________________________
This is a bit too much information to process quickly, I quickly assessed.
(Okay, I'll dumb it down for you)
Name: Zen
Age: 16
Date (DD-MM-YYYY); 14-5-2142
(These are your name, your age, and the date)
Seriously, I exclaimed, be more useful.
(You will realize how important those are later)
(Next is your stats)
Stats
Force: 15
Control: 17
Vitality: 14
Od: 2
(These are the measurements that you would get from any good testing device)
(Force would correspond to strength, Control to any test of dexterity, Vitality to anything to do with endurance, and Od is Od)
Thanks Health App, I dryly replied, I need you so much more than a testing machine.
(Next is your talent)
Talent
Keeper of the Swarm (Magnitude 1)
-Slight magical abilities
-Increases Control
-Increases Force
-Increases Vitality
-Increases Proficiency with Bow
(Your talent should make some sense, so let me talk about me)
(I am here to help is explain this, so I will without any interruptions)
Infected stages (In a healthy body)
Incubation (The infection is unnoticed, but is beginning to multiply)
Prodromal (The body noticed the multiplication, and light symptoms show up as it starts to engage)
Illness (Noticable Symptoms start to show up, and can be localized or Systematic)
Stage of Decline (The body starts to beat the infection, and the symptoms start to dissapeer)
Convalescence (The body has beat the infection, and the body gets healthier, but if the infection is deadly enough to cause permanent damage, that damage remains.)
Infected Stages (In an unhealthy/unlucky body)
Incubation (The infection is unnoticed, but is beginning to multiply)
Prodromal (The body noticed the multiplication, and light symptoms show up as it starts to engage)
Illness (Noticable Symptoms start to show up, and can be localized or Systematic)
Sepsis (The Body starts to fight itself)
Severe Sepsis (Organs start to malfunction)
Septic Shock (Impossibly low blood pressure despite assistance)
Dead
(That should be all for now because the rest explains itself)
Basically, you allow me to give people infectious bacteria that can either kill them, or just die off, I tried to understand.
(Yeah, that's basically it)
How does that steal power? I asked.
(Good question, if you can somehow get into contact with the bacteria that went into the subject's body, then you can gain the power of the bacteria, which has used the power of the subject, and integrated it into itself)
(The more probable way for you to gain the power is that the bacteria will simply die, and by that I mean the infection will be defeated)
(A.K.A. No more foreign bacteria will remain in the patient)
(When that happens, the bacteria's power will be sent into the atmosphere, and will make its way towards you)
(Instead of going straight to you, it will go into the system, and I will absorb it, I will do something with it, and you will get around 70% of the original boost)
So my bacteria, enters their body, uses their energy to reproduce and grow, so by the end of it they are power banks, I tried to explain it back to the System.
(That is actually a decent way of describing the process, but do remember that this is a case where you can suck out to much power)
Is there anyway for someone to notice this? I inquired.
(I don't know if people can figure it on the small scale, but if you try to do it to somebody on a larger scale, it might not go undetected)
(The normal case is that you suck out a little power, and the person will naturally recover it, but if you push too far you could be noticed because it will be semi permanent)
That is actually helpful information, thank you, I graciously replied.
I checked the time, it was 12:37, the perfect amount of time to sleep right before going to school.
There was nothing stopping me from getting a second nap in, so why not take one.
_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
On the way back to school I couldn't help, but wonder about why we still needed to go to school.
There was no way for me to know what the government was truly up to, so I could only assume that it was because they wanted to give themselves more time to scout up all of the truly talented kids.
The proctor was only a formality, so the Academies wouldn't revolt against the government, but that didn't stop the Academies from finding predatory ways to scout kids.
Anybody could say that the Academies weren't the kindest institutions, yet after a multitude of complaints, the government didn't do anything to change them.
There were reasons that you couldn't see a person with an Orange Grade in anything above an Intermediate graded Academy.
The common colleges like those within a certain city, but are run by the government are typically only going to have a Yellow Grade as the strongest student.
Those were called Basic Academies.
Reason being nobody there could really do anything other than live a life within the city walls.
You could find those who have a Yellow Grade as the common person within Intermediate Academies, and you could maybe find a Blue Grade, but that would be something akin to a comet hitting one of the planets.
People within Colleges like Bronzeheart are from Green Grade to Purple Grade, but those who are there with a Purple Grade are just dumb.
Those with a Purple Grade should probably be within a Prestigious Academy, and that is because only those Academies within the top 100 are able to provide necessary attention to all of their students.
They could only be within a High Grade Academy because they wanted to try to get a slightly better treatment than another Purple Grade in a Prestigious which doesn't work because the people Top 100 all have more resources exponentially compared to those out of it.
Along my short walk I took a little extra time to search for any small creatures, but the city principles that limited the appearance of Ihron truly was my downfall.
I could understand that they wanted to make it obvious when an Ihron would appear, but I wish that we could have some animals for Swarmkeeper to work.
As I approached the school gate, my five-minute alarm vibrated from the pulsewave in my pocket.
I quickly turned it off because I was already at my rust bucket of a school, and you weren't allowed to be on your pulsewave inside of their grounds.
Causally, I entered the building.
The halls readily swallowed me up, and after a little digestive roller coaster, spit me out into my classroom.
My bare desk comfortably welcomed me, and I greeted it back by sitting myself in my chair, and laying my face down for a quick nap.