System is Alive!

Jacob stood in front of a large and heavily armored door, blocking their way into the lab section of this massive place.

Guards stood posted at the front of the door, and upon seeing Jacob, many gripped their spears tightly, untrusting of Jacob's presence. Clara stood next with him while the other two were just behind.

"Step aside, some of you escort us." Clara ordered with an authoritative voice, she quickly turned to Jacob, "No hard feelings, just safety precautions."

It took a minute for the door to unlock and open, slowly revealing their destination.

Scientists walked around in a sterile and futuristic hallway filled to the brim with lab equipment, monitors, and carts. On the sides were dozens of doors leading to different sections of the facility, but Jacob only needed to enter one.

Clara led the three into the area with a group of guards next to Jacob. Ella and Zeph looked around in amazement and curiosity, but Jacob was only nervous and unsure of what would happen next.

Nearby scientists looked at Jacob with fear, slowly moving back or retreating to the other rooms.

"Information of your arrival spread like wildfire, most were afraid but some wanted to study the glitches, i'm one of them." Clara explained. After speaking, she raised her phone to her ear, talking to someone.

Ella slowly approached Jacob from behind, moving by the guards to talk.

"So, how does it feel to be a glitch?" She bluntly asked, Jacob was taken by surprise, unable to respond quickly.

"Uhh, it feels normal I guess. Apart from that weird stuff in the system."

"Oh, any cool abilities or higher stats?" 

"Ella stop pestering him for now, we don't even know much about his glitch issue." Zeph unexpectedly interrupted their conversation with his clear but low voice.

"Oh, sorry. Good luck with those tests." With words of encouragement to end their talk, Ella patted him on the shoulder and moved back.

—---

They entered one of the rooms, without warning, the door behind them shut and began blending into the wall, as if it never even existed.

"This is the testing chamber, we will see how this system of yours acts, along with other things." Clara spoke, she walked up a small stairway heading upwards to a small observation booth above with the other two.

He noticed that a few more scientists were already present inside the booth through a window.

"Alright Jacob, as a glitch of City H, I will personally conduct tests on you as head researcher." Clara spoke through a microphone inside the booth, looking down at Jacob along with researchers and his teammates.

"Wait, you didn't tell me that before!"

"Don't worry, it changes nothing. All you need to do right now is to try contacting the glitch in your system." After she spoke, dead silence filled his ears, quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

The room was a white chamber of armored walls, able to take some damage and prevent something from escaping through them.

'Is it really this bad? I'm not gonna turn to some titan or beast from this right?' Jacob nervously chuckled, the amount of security felt excessive, but he calmed himself down and obeyed Clara's orders.

The screen appeared from a snap of his fingers, showing his stats.

[Energy: 100/100]

[Abilities: Reap] 

[Injuries sustained: None]

[Grade: 10]

'Damn, grade 10. Wonder if this glitch will let me rank up or not.'

The only way one can rank up is to accomplish tasks normally given by the system, from farming to fighting. But with Jacob's glitch it was unsure if he can even rank up at all.

[I sure can!!#&$&] A large text box suddenly appeared on the screen, blocking most of the stats.

"Alright, what are you anyway?" The text disappears after a second, not responding for a few moments.

[Why, i am your personal ally! Here to help you through your journey!$#%%#] 

"What journey?"

[Why, your journey to accomplishing something great!$#@]

Clara sighed through the mic, "Not enough information, will it respond to me as well?" She questioned. 

[Ooo, is that your boss? She looks fine!$%$] As if it had eyes and can see, it replied to Clara. Soft chuckling could be heard from the mic.

"So it is sentient and intelligent, interesting." Clara stopped talking for a while, documenting the information on her phone before asking more

Jacob kept looking at the screen. 

"Why aren't you present in everyone else?"

[Well, let's just say this is just like those chosen one tropes in novels, but in real life!#$%] 

"Tropes…Odd." Clara stopped talking and kept typing down on her phone.

[Alright i'll cut to the chase with you friend. Or Jacob.] 

"What do you mean?" Jacob asked, surprised it also knows his name.

[I'm here to not only aid you, but to strengthen you. As you know, you're not the only glitch. You need power, and I can offer that. There's a reason you were chosen and not another random runt.] 

"What does it mean?" Clara asked, but neither the glitch or Jacob seemed to care.

[Since you're chosen, i can offer you these powers, but in return i want something in exchange.$#@]

"What will that be?"

[You will see eventually…#$@] The text vanished in seconds, and the system no longer responded.

On the abilities section of the system, Jacob noticed two new add ons.

[???: 100/100]

[Abilities: Reap, ???]

"The test is on hold, it seems we found something good." Clara spoke, she exited the booth and walked down the stairs, reaching Jacob to look at his screen.

"This is good information, excellent work Jacob. But the tests are not over yet, the next one will commence later once we analyze this information." She explained. The door reappeared and opened, letting the team out.

Guards quickly rushed in, surrounding Jacob before they started their walk to the next area

The glitch remained silent, no longer responding with text boxes.

'Journey and chosen? What kind of story did I get sucked into?'