A System
"Huh?" Ender found himself sleeping on top of a cold, wet rock. He could hear the waves crashing near him and subconsciously turned to the side to see the vast sea and the city.
He started touching his arms, chest, face, and everything. Even bit his arm and felt the pain of his teeth sinking into the flesh.
"I'm... alive? But that's impossible... there is no way I survived that fall-" He quickly got up and asked once again, "How did I even manage to reach this place?"
Ender looked up and was greeted by a rock ceiling. His brain was working at full power, trying to understand anything at all. But nothing made sense. He should have fallen inside the water or on top of the pointy rocks, but now he is inside a cave.
"The wind isn't even that powerful... I don't even have a broken bone." He mumbled while checking the wind. Just as he wanted to get up...
'Hello, Ender.'
Ender flinched towards the side the moment he heard a voice, but he realized he hasn't even heard something. He rubbed his eyes while yawning and said,
"Maybe I'm hallucinating, must have been a tough fall."
'It is not a hallucination, you are not hearing my voice, but rather thinking about it.'
Ender once again looked towards the side hurriedly but wasn't able to pinpoint said voice's location. It was the exact same as his, and it felt everywhere. He quickly rose to his feet and began walking around in circles while touching the cave's walls.
"Maybe something is inside the walls... I need to get out of here."
'I will be dammed... listen, kid, I don't care about your feelings right now. I have a special offer to make.'
Ender stopped walking, and this time he clearly heard the voice inside his head. The weird part was that he couldn't hear it, he was just loudly thinking about it, "This is too uncanny." He mumbled.
'I will keep it simple, do you want to receive enough power to change your life?'
Ender started hyperventilating while walking around and throwing random questions, "Oh my god this is an illusion right? That's right, I'm dead. Is this a curse? Am I cursed for eternity? I fucked up so hard."
'If you want to keep mumbling, I might as well change bodies. If you do not accept within ten seconds, you will die.'
Ender stopped his pace and held his breath the moment he heard that, "What do you mean I will die."
'Ten'
'Nine'
'Eight'
"Wait... wait hold on." Ender said.
'Seven'
'Six'
'Will it actually kill me? What is going on?!'
'Five, I will kill you if you do not accept.'
'Four'
Ender stared at the void while the voice continued to count down. He was brainstorming any loopholes but couldn't find any.
To be fair, he didn't want to be given said power. Maybe it's a trap to slave him and make him do something illegal or whatnot.
'One'
"I accept!" Ender shouted.
While he was thinking and daydreaming the voice got to the last number. He didn't want to push his luck, so Ender instantly accepted. Whatever happened next is a gamble. And a big one.
He waited for some seconds, and each one made him feel more nervous than before. He sat down and took some deep breaths, when suddenly.
'Thank you... for giving me a chance to prove myself. You shall now go through an evolution process and deep sleep. You will wake up in one day.'
Just as Ender wanted to say anything, he felt as if the world was darkening around him. Within seconds, he fell to the ground while having the worst headache he has ever had in his entire life. A sudden space distortion and Ender disappeared
---
Inside a dark room, with very little light, only that of the sun rays coming from a crack in the wall, a closet without any doors stood near a corner of the room.
Inside, a teenager with white hair lay down on an improvised bed within the small closet. Still, he needed at least half his body out to lie down.
Ender was in a deep sleep while his body undergo extreme transformation. His veins sometimes glowed a red and grey intensely, while his hair started growing rapidly only to stop at shoulder length.
He would usually get a quick spasm, and eventually, he fell to the ground along with the sheets, covering him completely.
'This kid is something... he is a good vessel... really good potential. After all, he is as empty as a dead bug carapace.'
21 hours later...
'The system is now 100% integrated... I will leave the kid a quick guide as I've overused my powers. Will talk to him when I wake up... Hopefully, he doesn't get too scared.'
And everything went silent.
"Hmm?" Ender moaned while slowly opening up his eyelids. He blinked for some seconds before taking the covers off him.
He felt as if he was beaten up several times over and over again, but at the same time, he felt calmer than usual.
He clutched his head with one hand trying to get rid of the headache, which quickly did in some seconds. Ender looked around the place for some seconds and realized he was in his bedroom.
"How did I get here..." Before he could get up, he noticed something in the corner of his eye, and when he focused on it, a hologram appeared in front of him.
[I'm going into a slumber for some days, call or think 'System' to start progressing.]
"So it wasn't a dream... something is living inside me now." He said while rubbing his chest and clutching it.
He noticed that his veins now had a tint of grey but they were the usual color nonetheless. It made Ender uneasy because of assumptions people could make, but he disregarded said thought, no one was going to focus on him anyways.
He took a deep breath to clear his mind and mumbled, "System."
*Plop!*
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{Host Information}
Name: Ender Rialto
Age: 17
Level: 0
I. Status: ?
Exp: 0/200
HP: 20/20
Ability Energy: 20/20
{Attributes}
Strength: 1
Perception: 2
Agility: 0 [Locked]
Speed: 1
Intelligence: 3
Thinking Speed: 4
Charisma: 0 [Locked]
{Spare Points: 0}
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"What in the... what is this an old RPG game? Charisma locked? What the hell is this dude on."
He read all the information contained inside and it was pretty straightforward. Though he wanted to argue about not having Agility or Charisma, a quick flashback into his entire life proved him wrong in less than a blink.
He sighed and checked for any other option, and found a sidebar with some more pages to look at.
"Skills." Ender said.
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[Level 0, Locked] - Dash
[Level 1] - Healing
[Level 1] - Claws of Fear
[Level 1] - Appropriation
....
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"Dash, Healing... what the fuck is this about." Ender kept reading his abilities' names over and over not knowing what to do with this information.
There were some hidden abilities as well, but he discarded them, just to not stress over more shit.
Just as he was about to re-read them again, a text appeared beside every ability.
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[Level 0, Locked] - Dash: [Hidden Information]
[Level 1] - Healing: [Heal one-tenth of your HP every five seconds until it's replenished.]
[Level 1] - Claws of Fear: [Specific nails will instantly grow into resistant, long claws. In case of successfully attacking and damaging an opponent, he will enter into a distressed state.]
[Level 1] - Appropriation: [When all requirements have been met, you will be able to consume an opponent's element. It will severely weaken his own one and you will gain a big portion of his. Requirements: Opponent must be in the highest state of fright (Distressed) or passed out from fear; Opponent must have an ability between Common to Uncommon.]
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Ender squinted his eyes as he started carefully reading every single word, "Dash is locked but it's quite straightforward... Healing will come in really useful..."
The moment he reached Claws of Fear, his eyes widened in shock while his jaw slightly dropped. He stared at it for some seconds before forming a smile, "This is it... the moment I waited for. Finally, I'll be able to defend myself... yes!"
Ender smiled at the anticipation of a form of self-defense. It may not be much, but at least he could do something against the constant bullying he was suffering from. He continued reading, and this time he almost passed out.
He brought a hand towards his open mouth and muttered, "I can steal elements..." He re-read all the information over and over and over again, and when he realized that his eyes weren't playing tricks on him he could help but laugh,
"It was about time! I will become the most powerful Humanyc in the galaxy!"