Rewards

Notifications:-

1) You have taken your first life. Inventory unlocked.

2) You have taken one life. Reward: Mind-Body Technique.

3) Starter Pack received.

After reading the first notification, David's surroundings gave him no time to form another thought as they shifted like a scene change in a movie. The dark and musty temple room disappeared from his senses, replaced by a blank and odorless white space no larger than a skip bin.

Already on edge from the day's events, this occurrence startled him so much that he yearned to return to the temple. Much to his surprise, the force behind the displacement heeded his desire and sent him back. The temple's weathered brown walls graced his sight once more, filling him with relief.

Calmness and curiosity naturally followed, his mind going back to that place. 'Was that the inventory? he pondered, 'It has to be. It appeared right after I read the notification...'

Eager to put his theory to the test, he tried to summon the sensation of being sucked into that place. He succeeded on the first try and the white walls of the empty space greeted him once more. Unlike his prior visit, he was curious and interested this time. Thus, the instant he entered, he noticed something strange.

His body didn't get pulled along, meaning it was back in the temple, defenseless. This also meant he perceived the room using something other than his physical senses. 'Perhaps my consciousness,' he speculated, basing his theory on how he could "see" every inch of the room as though he were a three dimensional being looking at a two dimensional one.

'It's like looking in every direction at once,' he thought, 'Like the third person perspective in games.'

Finding nothing else to do in the empty room, he willed himself back. Upon regaining his physical senses and control, he grabbed the knife and looked at it with the intent of storing it. In next to no time, a dull white light wrapped the blade and it vanished, leaving his hand clutching at air.

Encouraged by his success, he made an attempt to sense the inventory without entering it and received a pleasing result. Instead of being sucked in like before, he gained a mental picture of the white room, complete with its latest occupant, the knife.

'This is much better,' he thought in relief. 'That mind dive thing is too troublesome.'

Zeroing in on the knife, he stretched open his palm and willed it back. Just like before, a dull light in the shape of the knife flashed and the cold blade settled in his grip. He clenched it and turned it over a few times, even making a cut with it to ensure nothing about it changed.

Satisfied with that test, he ran a few more and made some discoveries.

For one, he could not manifest the knife into thin air. It had to be in contact with some part of his body, and it did not matter where. The same could be said for storing items. Without physical contact with an object, he could not store it.

The last thing he discovered had to do with the "mind-dive." When inside the inventory with his consciousness, he could manipulate the knife's position, but when viewing the real-time mental image, he could not do same.

With those two done, only a single test remained, but he didn't have the means to carry it out.

'The only thing left is to check if it can support life. Seeing how time still moves in there, my gut says it can with the right preparation, but I'd rather not assume… that always ends terribly...'

With the [Inventory] exploration over with, he moved on to the next notification, the reward for killing one person. 'Mind-Body Technique,' he read in curiosity, his mind swimming with theories on the nature and purpose of this reward. However, in the same manner as the [Inventory], the system interrupted his train of thought and manifested the reward.

Too fast for him to react, the attribute screen fired a beam of light into his forehead, sending his mind into a torturous chaos of scenes and wordings. Strange movements, mental exercises, anatomical knowledge, and breathing practices flashed in his consciousnesses like a hyper-accelerated camera reel, and brought with them agony that equaled the might of ten migraines.

The pain floored him, yet for the life of him, he couldn't pass out. His vision swayed and darkened many times, but every time he almost entered dreamland, the suffering would ease and he'd gain an iota of clarity. This cycle repeated about a dozen times before stopping, as the "download" came to an end.

"Whew!" Seeing his sight clear up for the first time in ages, he sat up and produced a loud exhale, blinking a few times to ascertain if the "brain injection" had indeed ended. While he did that, his mind could not help but go back to information he just received.

The new images and knowledge jumped at his every beckon like a dog eager to please its master. They flashed past his mind with a quality and clarity that astonished him. 'It's as if the pain burned the data into my mind,' he mused while perusing the enormous brain dump, his excitement growing with every thing he comprehended.

'According to this, by mastering just the basics, I will be able to block unnecessary thoughts and emotions, allowing me to channel every ounce of focus and concentration into any task.'

A delighted expression found its way onto his face. 'No emotions and super efficient work? Where have you been all my life?!'

In the midst of this delight however, an ugly but valid concern reared its head, his face falling a bit. 'This sounds nice, but doesn't it take years to gain such levels of mastery? I mean, the time I'll take will definitely be shorter than normal due to the potential spark, but exactly how short?'

For all he knew, it could be years, even with his spark. Or perhaps, he'd underestimated the efficacy of the technique. It did come from a god after all. There had to be something special about it. Right? He shook his head and he discarded this train of thought.

At the end of the day, letting this bother him was stupid and unnecessary, and so he moved on. 'Let's just see how it goes,' he thought and switched his attention to the third notification, the Starter Pack. At this point, he'd grown familiar with the system's antics, so he grit his teeth and braced himself.

Right as he focused on the notification, he recoiled as tiny motes of light escaped the system screen. Instead of coming to him however, they separated and lined up in row before him. They then enlarged to form eight rectangular posters, each depicting a character that to him, used to be fictional.

That however, is not what caught his attention. Despite the diverse and differing media these characters originated from, they had one overarching similarity: each of them was a favorite character of his.

John Price, James Buchanan Barnes, Jonathan Wick, Dean Winchester, Philip J. Coulson, Nick Burkhardt, Connor Kenway, Geralt of Rivia….

These names brought forth so many memories. Late nights trying to complete impossible missions, doing research after research on characters and lore, and hours after hours of just binge watching episodes. 'Those were good times…' he reminisced with a dreamy smile.

He caught himself after a few seconds and refocused on the posters. 'I hope this is not what I think it is. Because I don't think I'll be able to choose…'

[Choose a template]

'Dammit. Me and my big mouth,' he cursed with a frown. 'At least it didn't ask me to choose my favorite one. That would have been war,' he thought, visualizing a fight club where these characters fought against each other to determine the strongest.

He didn't even have to go through all the fights to know the winner. Geralt won this easily, followed by Bucky. The rest were grouped together since none of them possessed powers or enhancements that put them on par with these two. Skills-wise though, the ranking would be different, maybe.

After the brief mind tournament, he had enough information to make a choice. Truth be told, it turned out to be easier than he expected. Geralt seemed like the most obvious choice, yet there were some things he had to take into consideration about the monster hunter.

For one, some of the materials used to mutate him came from monsters, meaning weird and complicated genetics. And two, these mutations sterilized him for life. He could not have children. How would the Potential Spark interact with these variables?

Would it elevate his talent with just the abilities or his entire repertoire of Witcher powers? Stronger body, stronger signs, better senses, and perhaps… stronger sterility?

'That doesn't even make sense,' he sighed. Nevertheless, he did not wish to find out. That's why he chose the most viable option in his opinion, Connor Kenway, his most favorite Assassin's Creed protagonist. 'Out of all these guys, he's the only one with a useful support power. Plus, it comes from a bloodline,' he nodded as the posters vanished and left Connor's behind.

'Sorry guys.'

Gazing at the poster of the assassin, his mind began to swim with doubt. 'Will the spark even work?' he wondered, fearful of his assumptions being overturned like most times in his past life. As if to give him a response, Connor's poster shrunk into a beam of light and shot into him, assaulting his entire body with intense pain.

'Fuck!'