System

Anna tried to make her way towards Peter and me, but she was intercepted by journalists and agents from Lotus.

"Miss, miss, please answer some questions," exclaimed all the journalists.

Since Anna was more of a shy girl, she appeared overwhelmed.

Suddenly, one of the windows started to glow, and a bald man in a red suit materialized.

"Hello Anna, my name is Winston, and I'm a representative of the Ascension guild," exclaimed the man, making his way through the journalists.

In this world, there were associations called guilds. They were groups focused on stopping monster attacks or internal attacks within the country, although some also intervened in the war with the Eastern Empire.

Ascension was the second most powerful guild, just behind the Iron Lions guild.

Guilds also had real-time access to evaluations of future prospects in order to recruit them.

Suddenly, the woman in charge of the evaluations coldly looked at the man and said:

"Mr. Winston, even though you're part of a powerful guild, it is strictly forbidden to transport yourself to a Lotus facility without special permission."

The man indifferently replied:

"I'm sorry, miss, but you must understand that your potential is worth more than any law imposed by Lotus."

This seemed to enchant the woman, and she emanated some of her aura.

The journalists and everyone in the room froze due to the immense pressure, except for Winston, who remained unaffected.

He also emanated some of his aura, and many in the room were gasping for air. When they finally realized what was happening, they retracted their auras, and the chilling sensation that previously filled the room dissipated like air.

"Peter, we better go. Anna will be here for a while."

Just as we were about to leave, a Lotus agent intercepted us and told me:

"Kid, your friend can go, but you haven't completed the procedure yet. You still need to have the system implanted."

I almost forgot, we still need to get that darn chip.

I also forgot to mention that today, in addition to taking the affinity and potential test, they were going to implant the system in us.

You might be wondering what the system is. To give you an idea, mana has a will, and that will sometimes transmits things to us, like your profession, potential, affinity, and so on.

The system interprets the mana and displays it on a holographic screen.

It's like a progress tracker shown as game statistics.

Normally, it's implanted in people with a potential greater than the average superhuman because, after all, why would they invest resources in people with low potential?

But the system also reports all the data obtained to the Lotus database, so you can't hide your progress from Lotus.

Traitors usually had a hacker to disable the chip, but the most desperate ones would resort to manually ripping it out, although that could damage your mana circuits since the chip is inserted in a part of the brain directly related to mana control.

Well, whatever.

I said goodbye to Peter, and the agent led me to what seemed to be an operating room.

"Lie down on the operating table," the man instructed me.

I obeyed and lay down.

Then, the agent placed an anesthesia mask over my face and said:

"When you wake up, you'll experience a strong headache, but don't worry, it's natural."

As the anesthesia took effect, I watched as a machine slowly approached me.

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I woke up on the operating table, and as the instructor had said, I felt quite a bit of pain.

When I opened my eyes, I found the same agent who had brought me here.

"Liam Lewis, to confirm that the procedure went well, say 'system' out loud."

I followed the agent's instructions and said 'system' aloud.

In front of me appeared a blue screen that said:

[Welcome, host Liam Lewis, to version 1.1 of the system.]

The instructor, noticing my reaction, said:

"It seems like you're seeing the screen. Say 'status' to continue with the procedure."

I did as he instructed, and in front of me, a screen resembling a video game appeared.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------[Name]: Liam Lewis (9 years old)

[Race]: Human

[Profession]: Locked

[Affinities]: Wind (medium), Darkness (high)

[Potential]: High superhuman (max 5 rings)

[Bloodline ability]: Locked

[Skills]: None

[Combat arts]: None

[Power]: 0 rings.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------"It's just like described in the novel," I thought.

"Well, now you can go, Liam," said the examiner.

I left the facility and headed to the meeting point I had agreed upon with my friends.

As I made my way there, a question arose in my mind: why wasn't Anna mentioned in the novel?

She had all the qualities to be part of the main cast, she is beautiful, intelligent, and above all, with monstrous potential.

In fact, the protagonist's love interest had a high semi-divine potential, so there wasn't much difference between her and Anna.

"Well, I'll think about it later," I told myself.

When I arrived, I found Peter sitting there, crying.

"Peter, bro, what's wrong? Are you discouraged by the results?"

"Sniff, sniff, yeah, I won't be able to keep up with you or Anna. I feel powerless."

I let him vent while I thought about what to do.

When he finished shedding a river of tears, I patted his back and said:

"Peter, do you know the story of the Warlord?"

Peter, with tears still on his face, looked at me confused.

"The Warlord was a great warrior from ancient times who was born with an [Awakened] potential, the lowest of them all. He was humiliated countless times by opponents with more talent than him. But you know what he did?"

Peter shook his head.

"He never gave up. Thanks to his strong will and ambition, he became one of the strongest people of his time without relying on mana, fighting only with his fists."

Peter fell silent.

"So tell me, Peter, what do you think would have happened if he had given up? What do you think would have happened if he had just stayed there, whining? Do you think he would have become so strong?"

"No," Peter said softly.

"I can't hear you, Peter."

"I SAID NO!"

"That's what I like to hear, Peter. So, will you give up or will you follow the Warlord's example?"

"I will work harder than anyone else to become stronger than you or Anna one day," Peter exclaimed with renewed determination.

"That's the spirit. Now, how about wiping those tears away?"

While we were having this conversation, Anna finally showed up.

"Oh, hey Anna, or should I call you 'Madam' now?" I joked.

I noticed that Anna had a sad expression, so I asked her:

"Why the long face?"

Anna sighed and with a trembling voice, said:

"I'm going to leave Millwood."