1 Insanity or Reality

"The fuck… is this?"

Maybe the lack of sleep, maybe the alcohol or maybe even my fucked up delusion.

I was not sure what was the key player in this situation, but I was definitely certain about one thing.

"I am finally going crazy."

Of course, I was.

Otherwise, how the fuck do you explain this?

<<Mythopoeic System Synced>>

<<Select Continue to Proceed>>

A screen, a translucent screen floating right in front of my eyes.

"And what am I supposed to select?"

Continue?

That shit was nowhere to be seen.

<<Select Continue to Proceed>>

The words were bold, as if begging me to follow them.

It was too fucking early, five in the morning.

And worse, I hadn't gotten an ounce of sleep.

I took a deep breath and got out of bed, sweat dripping from my body.

Yeah, I need a bath.

Grabbing the glass of water from the tabletop, I glanced at the screen, still not vanishing, still not getting off of my mind.

Chugging down the entire glass, I took a good look at it again, and yet… nothing.

There was no 'Continue' button, there was nothing that could be selected.

It's not like I can just think for it to 'Continue' and it would continue–

<<Mythopoeic System Activated!>>

Or would it…

It would.

"What is this?"

I mumbled, far too confused about the whole thing.

"I am sober."

If I wasn't before, I am now.

My eyes were wide open, I was not sleepy, I was not high and it definitely wasn't a delusion.

I slapped myself to make sure I was seeing everything for real.

<<Mythical Essence Spin Available!>>

Weird, so damn weird.

But I was definitely seeing it.

A wheel, not too big, not too small. Just enough to fit within a square of thirty-ish centimeters.

"This…"

The wheel was divided into multiple sectors, each glowing with a different color.

S A B C D

Five colors.

"What am I supposed to do?"

<<Would the host like to spin?>>

<<Spins 1 Available:>>

<<First Spin Bonus Active>>

Leaning against the wall, I stood confused. But I knew that this screen was not going to go away anytime soon.

What if I say no?

I don't know, but it seemed a tad bit too interesting to not try.

While I wasn't a gambler, I wasn't a person who wasted free things either.

That one free spin that I had was far too tempting to not use.

"Use?"

<<Affirmative! >>

<<Spinning for Mythical Essence!>>

In the blink of an eye, the message popped and the wheel shined bright –before it began to spin at ridiculous speeds.

There were five colors.

Black.

A dirty shade of blue.

An even uglier shade of green.

A dull red

And finally white.

Yeah, I wasn't good at defining colors, but who chose such an ugly palette of shades?

Gambling wheels are supposed to be colorful, not bland.

But as I was complaining, the wheel slowed down and ultimately stopped, with a tiny pointer pointing at the color white.

<<Congratulations Host Obtained an S Grade Essence!>>

<<First Spin Bonus Exhausted.>>

Oh.

Lucky, I guess?

<<Error! The host's tier is too low to accept an S Grade Essence!>>

Huh?

<<Essence reduced to A Grade!>>

Yep, not lucky.

Never lucky.

<<Congratulations! Host the acquired essence of 'Hero Thousand Tasks: Hercules!'>>

Hercules? As in the Greek demi-god? Son of Zeus?

<<Essence stored in Essence Slider!>>

<<At the current level, host can equip Essence for three hours. After hours, will go into cooldown an hour.>>

And as it finished, a scrollable list appeared before me. It had a bunch of slots that could be slided over, but every one of those were grayed out, except for one block that had the picture of an animated strong man.

"Hercules…"

Definitely Hercules. The picture perfectly matched the descriptions given about Hercules.

But it sucks that despite the bonus and despite getting a golden spin, I could not get the white essence.

<<Essence Grade Reduction is only applicable to the host's current level. Host won't have worry about Essence reduction once tier increases by even one.>>

Oh? So, the reduction is only for my current tier?

But this does make me wonder.

What is my level?

<<Host can check their status by wishing for the stats screen.>>

This system is what you call a semi-intelligent system. It can pick on your thoughts and give you a response only for the things it has been pre-programmed for.

It does not answer questions that are asked often, only ones that are necessary. Either because of its limitations or because of its wishes.

But most importantly.

"Stats."

As I said –which I don't know why I did audibly– another screen popped out, this one was a little yellowish.

And yes, it had my information, my 'stats.'

And it hurts to look at it.

[Name: Michael Moore]

[Age: 21]

[Rank: D]

[Essences: 1]

[Equipments: 0]

[Trial Essence: 0]

[Trial Equipment: 0]

D?

That's shamefully bad.

I didn't know how to increase the rank and despite me asking the system, it gave me no response.

As I told you, semi-intelligent.

And well, I tried exploring the screens a little which drew my attention to a few 'sliders'.

Four to be precise.

Two Horizontal sliders and two verticals.

Considering the bottom horizontal slider had the Hercules' essence and the one above it was empty –I guessed it to be the equipment slider.

As for the vertical ones, they are most likely the trial sliders.

Just a guess though.

But well, I noticed that the Hercules block was selectable, as in I could 'click' it.

And it doesn't take a genius to figure out that if I clicked it, I would get the essence.

However… I wasn't exactly sure how it works.

"Do I click it?"

Will it work if I ask the system to use the essence for me?

I had my hangover smacked out of me by this weird system and there was a long time before I had to go for classes.

So…

Why not?

With barely any hesitation, I selected the essence.

Or well, tried asking the system.

'System, use the Hercules Essence.'

Not for a second did I bother contemplating the things that could go wrong.

<<Affirmative! >>

<<Congratulations! Host has equipped his first Essence!>>

<<Host's Essence synced with Hercules' Essence!>>

<<Host now possess the same powers, abilities and constitution as Hercules for three hours!>>

An array of messages rang in my ear, each promising that I now possessed the powers of Hercules.

However…

"I feel… nothing?"

It felt like nothing.

I felt the exact same as I did a minute ago.

Unlike the transformations shown on television or fictional stories, I did not notice anything different.

My breathing was the same, my senses felt the same and I believe even my appearance was the same.

To confirm I stood in front of a mirror, and I wasn't wrong.

I looked the same –I was the same.

"Any other change?"

Just to confirm, I even checked my weight.

"No change."

Of course, it all had to be my delusion.

Why would there be a system that could grant a person abilities?

It's not a game, it wasn't fiction –it was real life.

My life.

As fucked as it already was, I also might be a schizophreniac.

I sat down, took a deep breath and contemplated my life choices.

I wasn't a person that made smart decisions. And all the stress and stupidity might have accumulated to end up with me as a psychopath.

"Fucking dammit!"

*CRACK!*

But then I froze.

"What?"

I stood silent at the broken table in front of.

"Did I just break this table?"

Was it me?

But I didn't smack it that hard.

Not to mention the table was definitely expensive.

But onto the main topic.

"How?"

How did I just break a table? Was it that weak?

This made me pick up the broken piece of wood to inspect it.

It definitely didn't look weak. But just to confirm, I tried pressing on it with just a little bit of force that should not have mattered.

But it did.

"Huh?"

The piece of wood turned to powder in my hand –I crushed it.

Surely it cannot be what I am thinking, right?

There was only one way to find out.

And for that, I immediately jumped out of the couch and immediately went to fetch my cutlery, well my utensils to be precise.

And from that, I chose a spoon.

"Please don't fail me."

Despite the nervousness, despite being aware that it was stupid –I still wanted it to succeed.

"Let's see."

With the slightest bit of hope –I pressed the spoon and–

"Fucking hell!"

It wasn't a delusion, it was me going crazy.

"It's squished!"

The spoon got squashed, turned to scrap and it was only with just a little bit of force.

"Fuck, did I just gain something important?"

But there were still some tests that I had to do.

Just to confirm.

And where do you check your gains?

"To the Gym!"

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<<A N: Read 100+ Advanced Chapters (summation of all stories) ahead WN on Patreon. < p>

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P.S: Basically think of the slider as Ben ten's list of aliens and the transformation as one of the Older Ben (the one that could get the ability of the aliens without transforming his body into the aliens).

MC gets the powers of the 'transformation' immediately, but he will not get the instructions. He will have access to 100% of that character's powers, but he will have to figure out the powers on his own first to use them.

For the equipment, it can be anything.

And for trial essence and equipment, I believe I don't have to explain.

Finally the tier. Technically he does not gain anything from increasing his tier other than increased rate of higher grade essence/equipment spins as well as increased time that he can keep the essence equipped and lowered cooldown. (There is one more thing but that is a secret for now.)

As for the ones that are thinking, "Nah what is the point if it is not permanent?"

Think of it like Ben Ten. Kid Ben could not control his aliens, nor could he keep them for long. But later Ben could stay in the alien forms for as long as he wanted + he could switch aliens at will.

Same stuff.

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