The Fate Of The World Is In My Hands, But All I Want To Do Is Eat!
'Kill monsters, eat meat' 'I mean, Kill monsters, save lives. Got it.' 'Tut, I could've sworn that the first one sounded better.' She wasn't a girl looking for freedom or self-righteous liberation by a hero, or whatever shit a girl who suffered for almost all her life would crave. -the shit of a life she was living was horrible, but it was bearable, and so she got used to it. Rather, instead of freedom, what this little missy wanted was money. Lots and lots of them so she never has to worry about the next day. Money - bountiful enough that when she has to spend, she doesn't need to look back or calculate her assets to see how much she has left. Money - bountiful enough to get all the fried chicken she could ever dream of. Yeah, you heard it, fried chicken. For those who did not have money to spare leisurely, getting fried chicken was like a pipe dream to them and she had been one of those unfortunate souls. A comfortable roof above her head and no worries as to when she would get ordered around to steal. No worries about when she would get her next meal-- That was her liberation. And she got it. Just that, she got it most absurdly. Awakened! Those were the people ruling the world, alongside beastly and deadly monsters who threatened the safety of average human beings. And those awakened call the shots. Alice never dreamed she would one day be awakened, and compared to others with their game-like system displaying their attributes and strength; she had a full-grown man whom only she could hear, watching her back at every turn and telling her what to do. He was kinda a pain in the ass but she couldn't complain. It was this gift he had bestowed on her that made her the most powerful Awakened there was with stats that even S-class awakeneds couldn't compare to. She was the boss, now. Mwa-hahahahaha. But life didn't go as easy and leisurely as she planned. With great power comes great responsibility, right? Well, in her case with great power comes great hunger. She couldn't go a moment without getting hungry and her stomach had become a bottomless pit. And to get food, she needed money, and to get money, she had to hunt monsters. The monsters plagued humanity, causing catastrophes and taking lives mercilessly. Those monsters, as scary as they may be, were her target and she had to face them head-on. The bigger the monsters the more money she would gain. Yeah, that was the plan, but... This guy acting as her system seemed to have other plans, putting her at the forefront of 'justice' and having her clean the mess he somewhat created. 'Ugh, I can already sense a shadow of foreboding. Someone, please tell me I'm not acting the main character role. I just want to eat, okay?'
Miss Alice, you have to stop running
Alice ran on the treadmill with all her might as it had been set to the fastest pace. It was a surprise how she was keeping up so well and not even breaking a sweat.
Her legs were moving so fast that it also surprised her. She always had a knack for getting away with high speed, but she never expected to be able to run this fast, and she wasn't even feeling it.
She fixed her gaze on the man who was taking notes as she ran. She didn't know what they were trying to gain but she had been running for thirty minutes straight. Didn't this mean she had a crazy amount of stamina?
"So," Alice called out, attracting their attention to herself. "...when do I get off?" She asked.
"It's only been thirty minutes, Miss Alice." The research man stated. "This test is to check how much stamina you have and it looks like it's not close to being depleted."
"So you just want to know how long I can stay without getting tired?" She asked and they nodded. "And what if I'm tired now?"
"Please, be serious Miss Alice." Mark said and Alice darted her eyes aside.
The chicken and ice cream arrived five minutes ago and that was all she could think about. Getting a bite of that fleshy, greasy meat was all she could think of.
"Oh no, Boss, I think... I think I'm going to faint." She gasped for air. "I... I'm so tired right now. I'm really gonna faint." Her goal was to act tired and get them to stop this forsaken test but Mark didn't look like he was buying it.
"Miss Alice, your legs haven't slowed down one bit. If you were tired, you would've slowed down at least a little but you're still going so fast, and your face tells me otherwise." He explained and folded his arms. "You agreed to take this test so please refrain from pulling tricks."
Alice threw her face aside and clicked her tongue.
'Tut, I should've known he wouldn't fall for it.' She was bored. She was just running in one spot and watching a few guys in white coats observe her like a test rabbit. Or was it a hamster?
It sucked either way.
'It's all for the food, dammit.' she told herself, furrowing her eyebrows.
Yes, she was doing it for the food and nothing else. She didn't care for their stupid test and definitely didn't care if the machine ended up breaking like the last one they used to test her.
Then, her eyes landed on the mana crystal powering the machine. Would that also explode this time around?
And just as she thought that, she started seeing smoke.
"Huh? Am I imagining it?" Alice thought out loud. "But is that mana crystal smoking?"
They immediately turned to the crystal and it was I deed smoking.
"Whoa, haha. I never knew crystals could smoke." She laughed.
"That's because it's not the crystal that's smoking." Mark said. "Turn off the machine." He ordered, and they tried turning it off, but for some reason, it wouldn't stop. The treadmill wouldn't slow down even when the power was cut off.
It was almost as if...
Mark turned sharply to Alice and yelled,
"Miss Alice, you have to stop running."
"What?! That's impossible." Alice said.
"Hold the handles and lift your feet." He said, but Alice was not too sure about that. It felt risky.
Her legs were going so fast on the treadmill, it was just following the speed so how was she going to suddenly stop?
"You have to stop, if not you'll just keep running forever." He said.
"What? What does that mean?"
"You're the one powering the treadmill." Mark explained but she still couldn't get it. "To put it simply, your force is what's moving the treadmill right now. If you don't drop, you'll keep running like that and never stop."
Alice gulped. Mark was actually looking worried. Guess it was a bad thing after all. But how was she going to stop?
Her legs were going so fast that she couldn't even remember if it was left or right that was moving forward. She lost track of her own leg movements.
She was also a little far from the treadmill handle so she would have to move forward if she wanted to hold it. Yet, she couldn't do that. If she made one wrong step, her legs would suffer and she needed her legs more than anything.
Well, she needed her mouth more but at this moment, she needed to save her legs, and to do that, she needed a safe way to get off this machine.
What if she tried something else?
"And let's just say, I ended up falling off this machine, what is the probability that I'll die?" She asked.
"What? What are you planning?" He asked with a frown.
"Oh, just a way to get off so I can eat already. I'm starving, keke." Alice said.
Mark didn't know what she was planning but it looked like it was dangerous. He looked behind. The wall behind her was made of alloy so if she crashed on it, she may bash her head and die.
'I heard S-class awakeneds have thick bodies but what if she's not an S-class as she's always been saying? I may be putting her life on the line.'
There were a lot of things that pointed her out to be an S-class. She did things that only S-class awakeneds could accomplish. Yet... What if it was all a coincidence?
Even if she were an S-class awakened, who was to say that her body was as strong as the others? There was no certainty so he hesitated.
At that moment, Mark started feeling really responsible over Alice. He was assigned to be the professional awakened to take care of her while she was in custody but he took his job halfheartedly.
He just decided she was like every other rogue awakened who became awakened and hid it from the agency for her own benefit, but most times, she just looked like a simple teenager who wanted to eat her fill and not suffer from hunger.
He had only known her for a day and a half, but he had to admit, she was worth protecting.
And at that moment, he didn't want her to die even if it was through her own actions.
"What are you planning, Alice?" Mark asked. "If you've been telling the truth all along about not being an awakened and you hit the wall right now, you'll get smashed." He warned, and to that, she said with a cheeky grin plastered on her face.
"Well, if the wall is that hard, just put a cushion to soften the impact, boss. It's not that hard to think of."