2 Status points
...
While Farid looked in awe at his own status, wondering what everything there meant. However, while his eyes were still going through everything there, he immediately noticed a few certain words that made him surprised.
Farid looked at the screen in front of him, before his eyebrows twitched and furrowed in confusion. Everything he had read until then had not made any sense to him until that moment. However, when Farid noticed these specific words, everything began making even less sense to his already confused mind.
▽
-〈Please select an opponent for the system to start collecting status points〉-
☠ [List of enemies available for status points collecting] ☠
▸[Ant] Status points given upon defeat = 0.000001~0.000002
▸[Fly] Status points given upon defeat = 0.001~0.002
▸[Human: Rayhan Shieda] Status points given upon defeat = 0.01~0.1
△
"Rayhan? Why is he on the screen as well...?"
Rayhan Shieda was another orphan just like Farid. However, both of them were on bad terms with each other after a fight broke out between the two of them a few months ago.
Farid had managed to win the fight, but the relationship between him and Rayhan soured up a lot after that. Rayhan seemed to have held a grudge against him after that, and always talked bad things about Farid behind his back.
Fortunately, they were still pretty much children, Farid included, so the situation didn't develop much further than that.
"Why is that guy on my screen? Get out right now!"
Without thinking too much about it, Farid moved his finger to touch the name of Rayhan furiously, not thinking that anything would happen even if he did that.
"Hmm?!"
However, the screen proved him wrong.
『Entering Battle-simulating stage』
The screen changed once again, and in the blink of an eye, the small status window floating in front of him engulfed him whole as if it was some kind of monster, and before he knew it, his surroundings turned completely into a white landscape with no visible end.
"W-where am I?!"
Startled by the sudden change in his surroundings, Farid started looking around with a frantic expression on his face, because of this he was unable to notice the appearance of a strange black figure made of some strange liquid emerging from the ground behind him.
It took him a few seconds before he became aware of the new existence.
However, just when his eyes landed on the black figure, the abstract-looking figure started convulsing violently and twitching repeatedly, scaring the shit out of Farid. However, before he was even able to say anything, the figure that had been convulsing until then morphed rapidly into the vivid image of Rayhan and stood quietly while watching the bewildered Farid. His eyes were soulless, similar to a doll, while he gazed at Farid.
A snotty nose, freckles on both of his cheeks, and red curly hair... He looked completely the same as the Rayhan that Farid knew... However, call it a hunch, Farid knew that the being in front of him wasn't the Real Rayhan.
Of course, his words were further confirmed when another screen appeared in front of him.
『Opponent [Human: Rayhan Shieda] Has been created』
"Created?"
Farid's mind was completely filled with confusion at that moment, everything was simply too strange for him to understand at the moment. However, as if simply not caring about Farid's confusion, the system rapidly created another screen in front of him, and soon a countdown started.
『Beginning battle』
『3...』
『2...』
『1...』
"What? What is happ-?!"
『Begin』
-Bam!-
Before Farid was even able to do anything, the fake Rayhan jumped straight towards him and launched his fist towards Farid's face, hitting him and making him fall on his buttocks.
However, the fake Rayhan didn't stop there, as he soon lunged at Farid and started punching him while sitting on top of his body.
The punches weren't really that effective, as because both of them were kids, the fake Rayhan didn't really have that much strength in his arms. However, for a peaceful kid like Farid, who had fought very few times throughout his life, it was really shocking to be punched out of nowhere, making even some tears come out of his eyes.
Nevertheless, he hadn't won against the real Rayhan in the past because of mere luck.
-Bam!-
For the first time during the fight, Farid counter-attacked. Sending a punch straight toward the face of his opponent, and making him fall backward because of the recoil.
It was true that Farid was very confused at the moment, and that he couldn't understand how he ended up fighting something when he was only inspecting his screen in a beginning. However, he wasn't going to let himself be punched for no reason at all.
Turning the situation around, this time it was Farid who sat on top of the Fake Rayhan and started barraging him with punches, and contrary to Rayhan's punches, the ones from Farid's seemed to be actually making damage to the fake Rayhan, who could only try his best to helplessly fight back while still being pushed down.
It was only after the fake Rayhan stopped struggling, that another screen finally popped up in front of Farid and scared him once again, making him fall on his back because of the shock.
"Gyaaa!"
『You have successfully defeated your opponent in [1 minute and 38 seconds...]』
『The system will now start collecting status points from [Human: Rayhan Shieda] every 1 minute and 38 seconds』
『You can re-try this fight at any moment you want and try to establish a new record to shorten the span for collecting status points for every fight.』
『Leaving the Battle-simulating stage』
"What?"
As if everything had been a lie, suddenly the whole surroundings of Farid changed and returned to how they used to be... For a moment, he felt like everything he had seen until then was fake... Even the pain of being punched was gone now... However, the change in something made him widen his eyes in surprise, knowing that maybe it wasn't fake.
▽
Status points remaining: [0.03]
...
☠ [Selected oponent] ☠
▸[Human: Rayhan Shieda] Gives 0.01~0.1 status points every [1 minute and 38 seconds...]
『Do you want to try and set up a new record?』
『Yes』『No』
△
"The number increased...? It increased right?" Farid looked at the status points he had gained after fighting the fake Rayhan and furrowed his eyebrows as he couldn't understand what 0.03 meant. He had learned about numbers a while ago, but he had yet to learn about such numbers with zeros behind the numbers instead of in front.
Either way, he was still too alarmed by everything that had just happened during the last few minutes to care about that, and as such he ran away, looking for his caretaker to tell her everything that had happened.
He ran for quite some time, as his exhausted expression filled with anxiety surfaced on his face... Showing how worried he was, and how desperate he was to let someone know what had just happened.
Soon, he arrived at the caretaker's room. She was the one that helped him when he didn't know what the screen was, and thus, she was the only one he wanted to tell about the screen.
However, as soon as he was about to open the door of the caretaker's room, a sudden memory came back to his mind.
[Did you hear? He has something wrong with his head...]
[Is he dangerous then?]
[He is always looking at something that doesn't exist]
[That's so weird...]
After he was diagnosed with his mental illness, the kids in the orphanage started treating him like some kind of bug that would harm them if they got near him. Only through sheer effort, was Farid able to calm them down and become friends with them again, making them understand that he could only see something around him and nothing else.
However, even their caution didn't disappear completely after that, as even the fight with Rayhan was in the first place caused because he called him a weirdo, making him angry right away.
If he suddenly told the caretaker what happened today... Would it all repeat, then?
Would he get treated coldly once again? Or even worse?
At that moment, Farid's hand stopped moving towards the door and rapidly retreated to his side. Farid didn't want to proceed any further... He made up his mind.
'I won't talk about this with anyone... Or else they will think I'm crazy...'
...
'I'm not crazy... Right?'
Soon, Farid started retreating from the caretaker's room and started walking through the same way where he came from at a hurried pace... Not expecting in the slightest what would happen tomorrow.
...
°
°
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|The next day...|
"..."
Farid was looking at the screen in front of him with an astonished gaze, his mouth closing and opening like a fish due to the shock going through his mind at the moment. Even his hands, which were closed into tight fists, trembled in excitement and surprise because of what he had just discovered.
"This... This is incredible...!"
Something that would change his future immensely was happening... No, not only his future... The future of the whole world... The future of everything... All of them were changing... And no one was noticing it... Except him.
...
-To be continued-
