Chapter 02: Cushing's Syndrome
POV NARRATOR
"A system?" asked Alan looking at the strange screen in front of him, waiting for an answer that clearly would never come. With fear he took a step backwards trying to move away from the strange screen, but at the same time as he moved away, the screen moved towards Alan, he turned his head and the screen moved in the same direction as his visual point, he understood immediately, the screen was following him.
As Alan reached out his hand to touch the screen, the door to his room opened "Alan you have to come over for dinner..... what are you doing?"
"huh?" Alan was puzzled "can't you see it?"
"what do I have to see?" asked Emily not understanding where the conversation was going. For the young girl her brother was always a loser, but besides that she knew he wasn't crazy, at least until this moment.
"Forget it" said Alan shaking his head, there was no point in insisting, with Emily's personality it was obvious that she would have been surprised, but not only it didn't happen, but besides that for her the screen didn't seem to exist.
"As you wish, just remember that dinner is ready and mom is not one to wait" Emily closed the door again leaving her brother inside the room alone.
Alan's attention turned back to the screen in front of him, dinner was on the table so he didn't have much time to waste, but he still had doubts about what was in front of him.
"It appeared out of nowhere, only I can see it and it follows me everywhere. It's like it's some kind of artificial intelligence like in science fiction movies, could it be radioactive?" between Alan's murmurs more questions were being presented and while he had no answer he had a slight feeling of security, excitement and happiness. He extended his hand again and pressed the system screen with his hand.
[Name: Alan Tarly]
[Title: None]
[Condition: Cushing's syndrome]
[Vitality: 1]
[Strength: 2]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Agility: 1]
[Endurance: 1]
[Charisma: 1]
[Points: 2]
[Abilities:]
[Stubborn loser: Prevents the host from dying at his own hands.]
The expression on Alan's face froze "it's like a video game" he muttered in surprise at the words that lined up in front of his eyes, the screen was now yellow and the letters black. Alan's attention landed on the words "it's my stats and it looks like they are all on the lowest scale, I really am pitiful."
In the right area of the screen there was an outline with the drawing of a body, specifically Alan's body, what surprised him the most was that there was an area highlighted with a red glow right in the heart "what is this?" asked Alan pressing the place as if it were a touch screen, at the moment of pressing the place another screen appeared as if it were a pop-up window.
[Cushing's syndrome]
[The user suffers from a variation of Cushing's syndrome, current medicine possesses the capabilities to find a cure].
[ALERT!]
[The player's heart is in a state of stress, physical stats will be reduced by 50% to compensate for the influence of Cushing's on the body]
[it is recommended to look for a cure as soon as possible]
"All the stats will be reduced by half!" exclaimed Alan in surprise moving his attention to his stats.
[Name: Alan Turly]
[Title: None]
[Condition: Cushing's syndrome]
[Vitality: 0.5]
[Strength: 1]
[Intelligence: 5]
[Agility: 0.5]
[Stamina: 0.5]
[Charisma: 1]
[Points: 2]
[Skills:]
[The stubborn loser: Prevents the host from passing away at his own hands]
"is this disease stunting my growth again?" Alan was really frustrated, looking at his own stats screen he felt like his heart was squeezing, but at that moment another pop-up screen appeared.
[GOFS is doing an exhaustive search through the databases looking for a way to resolve the player's condition]
"a cure?"
[GOFS found a total of five possible methods to heal the player].
[GOFS ruled out four methods because of the player's statistics]
[GOFS points out that this might be the only possible method for the player]
"a method to eliminate my syndrome?" Alan's hopes were immediately restored as he read the words that system had laid out in front of his eyes, there was no certainty that it would work, but he had nothing to lose or at least that was what he had in his mind. He extended his hand once again and pressed the screen to see the content of the possible medicine.
[mission class C: Cushing's Syndrome]
[The player's body suffers from a variation of Cushing's syndrome, untreatable by current medical methods. To compensate for the damage, the system imposed limits on the player's body by sending the body's efforts to control the progression of the syndrome and prolong the player's life expectancy.
Based on the properties of the known plants there is a way to prepare the medicine, only the body must be prepared to receive the drug]
[Requirements for creating the medicine]
-Physical stats over 10 points (Vitality, Strength, Endurance, Agility).
-Find the ingredients for the medicine:
- 2 x Bear tusk
- 1 x Lapageria rosea
- Alcohol
- Taurine
- Cucurbita maxima
[Conditions for completing the mission: Cure Cushing's syndrome in the player's body] [Rewards: All limitations imposed by Cushing's syndrome will be eliminated
[Rewards: All limitations imposed by Cushing's syndrome will be eliminated].
[Penalty in case of failure: Cushing's syndrome will progress greatly, the limitations imposed will reach 75% of the statistics]
Alan's mouth opened in surprise, in front of him were the ingredients to cure his disease, something he dreamed of more than once and that which he desired the most.
Alan's fists clenched, he had a lot of illusion and he could not contain it in any way, now he was afraid that when he came down everyone would discover the happiness he had, but more than that he was afraid of breaking into tears, but even when he was enduring with all his strength, his vision became blurred, the tears began to flow slowly and his heart was squeezing.
They were not tears of sadness but of happiness, finally Alan had found a hope, a way to become 'normal' and avoid people's spite, finally all those days of pain and suffering would be over.
Alan was still ignorant of the possibilities that were in front of him, after all, until now the most important thing in his life was to end that physical condition that had brought him so many problems.